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mMmaauw& sa 


MRS. GEORGE CORBETT 


Author of " When the Sen gives up its Dead," " Advent- 
ures of a Storvaway ," " A Sailor's Life" “ The Child 
of the Wreck" " The Mystery of FeUsmere," "Tom 
Penn's Derelict," " Adventures of an Amateur De- 
tective." " Secrets of a Private Enquiry OJJice," 
"'The Missing Note," "fNew Amazonia," "Ad- 
ventures of a Lady Detective," etc., etc. 


You XL, No. 10. 


November 18, 1893. Subscription Price, $1.50 

22 *3 


> vV/> ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 

Issued Semi-Monthly. Entered at the Post-Office at tNew York as second-class matter. 


PETER EENELON COLLIER, Publisher, 523 W. 13th St., JN.Y. 





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vVf. vV/>. vMA. ^ v \?& ^ ^ ato ! 


THE ADVENTURES 

% 


OF 


AN UGLY GIRL 


BY 


/ 


MRS. GEORGE CORBETT 


Author of '•'■When the Sea gives up its Dead ,” '•'•Adventures of a 
Stowaway ‘Cl Sailor's Life” '•'•The Child of the Wreck” '•'•The 
Mystery of Fellsmere ,” '•'•Tom Penn's Derelict “ Adventures 
of an Amateur Detective.' ' '•'•Secrets of a Private Enquiry 
Office,” '■'■The Missing Note,” “ New Amazonia ,” “ Ad- 
ventures of a Lady Detective etc., etc. 


Specially written for “ Once a Week Library ” 


Entered according to Act of Congress, i 


in the Office of the Librarian of Congr 


Peter Fenelon Collie 



/V 


.C7?8 A 



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Prepared by SGOTT & BOWE, N. Y. Druggists sell It. 


THE ADVENTURES OF 
AN UGLY GIRL 


CHAPTER I. 

‘‘As ithers see us." — B urns. 

“ Come, Dora ! I shall never be ready, if you 
don’t make haste. They will be here in ten 
minutes, and my hair is not half so nice as it 
ought to be, thanks to your carelessness.” 

“You are very good to ignore my own claims 
to attention so utterly. I have been helping you 
this half-hour and have barely time enough left 
to change my frock. To make my own hair 
•presentable is impossible now.” 

“Why, what does it matter how your hair 
is dressed, or what sort of a gown you put on? 
You may just as well spare your pains, for 
unfortunately nothing that you can do seems to 
mitigate your ugliness. I’m sure I cannot think 
where you get it. You are — ” 

But, somehow, I did not feel inclined to wait 

( 3 ) 


4 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


for the end of Belle’s encouraging lecture. Per- 
haps it was becuase I was so often treated to 
my beautiful elder sister’s homilies that they had 
lost the spark of novelty and had acquired a 
chestnuty flavor. Perhaps I failed to recognize 
any generosity in her persistent efforts to nip 
such latent buds of vanity as from time to time 
tried to thrust their poor little heads above the 
chill crust of ridicule and contumely. Perhaps 
I was really as bad-tempered as I was said to 
be. Anyhow, my behavior could not claim 
to be either quiet or elegant as I stormily 
quitted Belle’s room, slamming the door behind 
me with such violence as to elicit from my more 
well-bred sister a little shriek of affected dismay. 
So far from feeling sorry that I had given Belle’s 
nerves a shock, I wished viciously that her fin- 
gers had been jammed in the doorway, or that 
something equally disastrous had occurred to 
take off the edge of her conceit and self-satis- 
faction. In the corridor I met my brother 
Jerry, of whom I was devotedly fond. But, 
although he had evidently some interesting re- 
mark to make, I did not stop to speak to him, 
but hurried noisily to my own room, where I 
locked myself in, and threw myself on the bed, 
to give way to a storm of sobs and tears. 

“ And all for what?” it may be aske'd. 
“ Surely a spiteful remark from one sister to 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


5 


another is hardly worth all this display of feel- 
ing.” Ah, well, perhaps one such remark now 
and then might be treated with the cool con- 
tempt which spiteful utterances deserve. But 
does the reader know what it is to be perpet- 
ually and persistently snubbed from one year’s 
end to the other? Does he realize how hard it 
must be for a sensitive and love-craving girl to 
be reminded that she is ugly and unattractive? 
Not reminded once in a way either, but pretty 
nearly every day of her life. Or does any one 
doubt how the heart must needs ache to see all 
the love and flattery of friends and relations alike 
showered upon a being whom you know to be 
empty-headed and frivolous, while everybody 
seems to regard your plain exterior as suffi- 
cient reason why you should be snubbed and 
neglected? 

If the reader has ever had any of these experi- 
ences, he will the more readily understand my 
inability to restrain my tears on the especial 
occasion just mentioned. For it really was a 
very especial occasion, and I had been more 
anxious to look well at this particular moment 
than I ever remembered to have been in my life. 
I had hoped that Belle, just for once in a way, 
would take a little interest in my personal ap- 
pearance, and that she would help me to create 
as good an impression as possible upon the new- 


6 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


comer whose advent I had both dreaded and 
longed for. 

But Belle was too self-engrossed, and too 
firmly convinced of my hopeless unpresentabil- 
ity, to give the slightest thought either to me 
or to my feelings. Nay, she had even claimed 
so much of my time in the task of enhancing 
her own beauty, that, as we have seen, I had 
only a few minutes left for myself, and even 
this morsel of time was not utilized by me, as 
things turned out. 

The fact is, I was anxious and overwrought, 
and Belle's unkind speeches had multiplied all 
day until they had utterly broken my compos- 
ure. “Can it really be true," I wondered in 
abject misery, “that nothing I can either do 
or wear will help to mitigate the first feeling 
of repulsion which my new mother must neces- 
sarily experience at the sight of my ugliness?" 

The question was of very vital import to me, 
tor I longed for the advent of at least one sym- 
pathetic woman in the house ; and when I heard 
that my father, now three years a widower, was 
about to marry again, I hoped, with a fervor 
that was nearly akin to agony, that his second 
wife would be the friend I so sorely needed. 
True, she would be my stepmother, and she 
would naturally assume the direction of the 
household affairs, at once placing the daugh- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


? 


ters of the house in a subordinate position. 
This being the case, I believe it would have 
been more orthodox to liave railed against the 
new invasion, and to have followed the prevail- 
ing social custom of resolving to make life miser- 
able for the woman who had presumed to step 
into my mother’s place. But I always was ter- 
ribly unorthodox in many things, and, consider- 
ably to my father’s surprise, I expressed my 
enthusiastic delight at the prospect of having 
a stepmother to reign over me. 

He need not have been surprised, if he had 
ever taken the trouble to understand me. But 
he was wrapped up in Belle’s charms, and. never 
looked at me without regretting either my ugli- 
ness or my temper, which all in the house, ex- 
cept dear little Jerry, pronounced unbearable. 
And yet I can truthfully say, that if I had ex- 
perienced anything approaching to just treat- 
ment, I should have been infinitely sweeter- 
tempered than my mucli-bepraised sister, than 
whom none could have been more unfeeling to 
the motherless girl whose heart ached for a little 
love. I generally did Belle’s bidding, for she 
always contrived to make things unpleasant for 
me if I rebelled against her authority. But to 
Lady Elizabeth Courtney I felt ready to yield 
the most devoted service and obedience, if only 
she would love me just a little in return; and I 


8 


ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 


bad anxiously revolved every means of creating 
a favorable impression upon her. I meant to 
have taken considerable pains with my toilet, 
and to have welcomed the home-coming bride 
with radiant smiles. 

And this was how my good resolves had 
ended. Just when — after working hard all day 
to see that everything was conducive to a warm 
and comfortable home-coming — I had begun to 
hurry through my toilet, I was summoned to 
Belle’s aid, with the result that instead of giv- 
ing my stepmother a smiling welcome I was up 
in my own room, with a face red and swollen 
with weeping, and a heart full of angry feeling, 
when she arrived. Presently I heard a carriage 
approaching, and at the same instant Jerry 
knocked vigorously at my bedroom door. 

“Be quick and come down, Dorrie,” he cried, 
in an eager, excited voice. “Papa and Lady 
Elizabeth are nearly here, and I want you to 
run down the avenue with me to meet them.” 

“I’m not coming,” I answered, with a sob 
that was audible to Jerry and provoked him to 
quick wrath. 

“I knew [she would!” he exclaimed. “That 
horrid Belle’s been at her tricks again and said 
something nasty. But don’t let her have the 
best of you like that. Don’t you know that you 
promised to go with me to meet them, and if 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


you don’t come they won’t believe you are glad 
about it.” 

“I can’t help it, Jerry,” was my mournful 
reply. “I look so hideous just now that I could 
not possibl}’ face a stranger. Run off quickly 
yourself. Say that I have a headache or some- 
thing of the sort, and that I shall try to sleep it 
off. Run now, there’s a dear boy.” 

And forthwith Jerry, whose real name, by- 
the-by, is G-erald Mortimer Courtney, ran along 
the corridor, down the wide, shallow stairs, 
across the tiled hall, and into the open air, just 
as the carriage containing the newly married 
pair drove into the large graveled space in which 
the chestnut avenue terminated. In spite of my 
discomfiture and unpresentable appearance, I 
possessed my due share of curiosity, and hastify 
jumped to my feet, crossed the room, and looked 
through the window at the prancing horses and 
elegant equipage which bore the newcomers. 
As soon as the carriage stopped, a liveried foot- 
man descended and opened the door with a flour- 
ish. By the time he had let the steps down, 
Belle and Jerry were at the carriage door, and 
I saw Mr. and Lady Elizabeth Courtney get out 
and exchange smiles and kisses with my sister 
and brother, while I, poor pariah, looked on 
with hungry eyes and an aching heart, and be- 
wailed my luck in seeming ill-natuted and in- 


10 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


hospitable, after all my efforts to prove the 
contrary. 

Lady Elizabeth, I must explain, had had some 
love passages with my father a long time ago. 
But their youthful desires had been taught to 
bow to the demands of fortune and posi tion. 
Lady Elizabeth was the daughter of an earl, 
and could aspire to more material comforts than 
could have been provided for her by the penni- 
less younger son of a country squire. True, the 
earl had no money, and what little land was still 
left him was mortgaged up to the hilt. But he 
had many friends who possessed sufficient influ- 
ence to pitchfork his four sons into government 
sinecures. He had a cousin also, the Duchess 
of Lyndene, who chaperoned his handsome, 
clever daughter through two whole seasons, and 
eventually resigned her charge into "the care of 
Samuel Chisholm, Esquire, once upon a time a 
shoeblack, now the proud possessor of twenty 
thousand a year, all made by the judicious ad- 
vertisement of his prize patent blacking. 

Upon the whole, the earl’s daughter was sup- 
posed to have done tolerably well for herself, 
and as her husband’s fortune steadily increased 
there was every reason for her to feel satisfied. 
Even the incumbrance which she ha^l been com- 
pelled to take with the fortune was not especially 
disagreeable to her, for Mr. Chisholm was a 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


11 


very clever man, whose mental and social equip- 
ments kept pace with his fortunes, and, in spite 
of his low origin and antecedents, he was as 
courtly and well-bred as Lady Elizabeth’s nobly- 
born brothers. The pair therefore lived harmoni- 
ously enough together, at least to outward seem- 
ing, for many years. Then Mr. Chisholm died 
somewhat suddenly, and his will was read in 
due course. 

It was during that important ceremony that 
the unexpectedly bereaved widow first felt real 
resentment against her late husband. For 
though he had died a millionaire, he had only 
willed his wife a life interest of five thousand a 
year, which was quite a paltry income compared 
with the princely revenue she had expected to 
be hers. To her father a like fortune was be- 
queathed, in addition to a sum of thirty thou- 
sand pounds wherewith to redeem his impover- 
ished estate. The widow’s brothers each recei ved 
a gift of five thousand pounds, and to the widow 
herself was willed all the personal property of 
the deceased. 

All the rest of his vast fortune was divided 
among a swarm of poor relations, whose exist- 
ence Lady Elizabeth had never acknowledged, 
but who no doubt showered blessings on the 
memory of the dead man who had thus befriended 
his own flesh and blood. The Earl of Great- 


12 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


lands, too, declared himself delighted with his 
son-in-law’s generosity. But his daughter did 
not hesitate to say that she had been treated 
shamefully, and at once proclaimed her inten- 
tion of resigning the tenancy of the costly Lon- 
don establishment, which it would be a farce to 
attempt to keep up on five thousand a year. She 
retired to a pretty place in the country, declin- 
ing to reside with her father, who, elated by his 
unwonted prosperity, was actually talking of 
taking a young wife to comfort his old age. 

My father had, meanwhile, married my 
mother, whose memory I adore, for she loved 
me passionately, and while she lived I was 
never humiliated, as was perpetually the case 
after her death, which occurred some three years 
before my story opens. I do not remember hear- 
ing how my father came across Lady Elizabeth 
again, but I believe that their early attachment 
soon re-asserted itself, and though he was much 
the poorer of the two, and encumbered with three 
children, the match was soon arranged. 

Although Lady Elizabeth had been dissatis- 
fied with her widow’s portion she was very much 
richer than we were, and her coming to Court- 
ney Grange was likely to be a very important 
event to the previous humble inhabitants thereof. 
In addition to the Grange, which had been my 
maternal grandfather’s property, my father had 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


13 


just six hundred a year, derived partly from 
what his father had left him, partly from my 
mother’s small fortune. Our establishment 
consisted of two servants, in addition to the 
family. Their names were John and Martha 
Page. They had never seen any other service 
but that of my father and grandfather, and had 
lived seventeen years under the same roof before 
it entered their heads to amalgamate their inter- 
ests by marrying. They were quite used to the 
constant scraping and economizing which we 
were compelled to practice, and did not look 
upon the arrival of a new mistress as an un- 
mixed blessing, even though she was bringing a 
good income with her. 

As for Belle, she was quite wild with delight 
at the gorgeous prospect which opened itself 
before her mental vision. London seasons, pre- 
sentations at court, halcyon days of brilliant 
pleasure, and a swarm of dukes and earls sigh- 
ing for the honor of her hand. These were some 
of the glowing visions in which she indulged. 

4 4 And I mean to get into Lady Elizabeth’s 
good graces, whether I like her or not,” she in- 
formed me. 4 4 She can do so much for me if she 
likes, and I can be amiability itself when I like. 
Besides, my looks will win her over at once. 
She will soon see what credit I can do to pretty 
gowns. As for you, you’ll be lucky if she toler- 


14 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


ates you at all. I’m sure it’s a shame that our 
family’s reputation for beauty should suffer as 
it does through you.” And so on, ad libitum. 

Of course, I was not surprised to see her 
warm, gushing welcome of my father and his 
wife, nor to note the glance of surprised admira- 
tion which the latter cast upon Belle and Ger- 
ald, for they were really both very beautiful, and 
both tall and well-grown, with lovely golden 
hair, rich deep blue eyes, and an exquisite com- 
plexion, united to perfect features. 

Lady Elizabeth, too, I was sorry to see, was 
a tall, handsome woman, who by no means 
looked her forty years. When I say that I was 
sorry to observe this, it must not be imagined 
that I grudged her her good looks. But I had 
had a vague notion that if she were compara- 
tively plain she would the more easily sympa- 
thize with my troubles, into which no one in the 
house except Jerry seemed able to enter. Now 
my hopes in that direction were upset, and I 
already knew instinctively that my own absence 
was being commented upon. I saw my father, 
the very picture of masculine comeliness, glance 
up at my window with an angry frown, and I 
knew almost as well as if I had been present 
what Belle and. Jerry were saying about me. 

After all, I thought, I had been very foolish to 
let Belle’s ill-nature and my own ill-temper spoil 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


15 


my resolve to make Lady Elizabeth’s home-com- 
ing as pleasant as possible. Apart from looks, 
my remaining upstairs would have already 
made me lose ground with my stepmother. 
Was it too late, I wondered, to rectify my 
error, and make my appearance before dinner 
was served? Answering the question in the 
negative, I resolved to complete my toilet as 
quickly as possible, and get over the ordeal of 
the first meeting without further loss of time. 

So I began operations at once, wondering, 
while I brushed my hair, how it was that I 
was so different to Jerry and Belle. I pulled 
faces at my own ugly reflection in the glass, 
but as that only seemed to make matters worse, 
I desisted. But I could not banish the discon- 
tent which enhanced my ugliness, and made it 
almost perfect in its own way. Why was I so 
short and dumpy? I asked myself vainly. And 
why was my hair so black, and lank, and scanty? 
And how was it that my complexion was more 
like Thames mud than anything else? And 
why was my face covered with freckles? These 
freckles I always felt to be an especial aggrava- 
tion of nature ; for whoever heard of freckles on 
a dark, sallow skin? And then, how did it 
happen that my eyes were of a pale watery- 
brown hue, while I had hardly got either eye- 
lashes or eyebrows that were visible? And 


16 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


why, oh, why! had my nose got that exas- 
perating habit of looking skyward? 

Even as I asked these questions of myself, I 
felt how hopeless it was to attempt to answer 
them. So I abandoned them and tried to con- 
sole myself with the reflection that my mouth 
was well-shaped and that I had splendid teeth. 
But then my great red hands obtruded them- 
selves upon my notice, and blotted out all con- 
sciousness of my redeeming features. I took 
considerable pains with my hair, and put on 
my best dress. Alas ! the latter was of a curi- 
ous brown shade which somehow only seemed 
to enhance my ugliness. Belle was dressed in 
a dainty pink cambric ; but I was never allowed 
such a luxury, as it was considered that I was 
too untidy, and too plain, and altogether too 
unsuitable to indulge in pretty things. Besides, 
we had to be economical, and as I could never 
hope to captivate a lover, no matter how I was 
dressed, it would have been a shame to waste 
money upon my futile adornment. So Belle 
argued, and I had hitherto had no choice but 
to bow to her arguments. 

I was at last ready to go downstairs, when 
once more Jerry came to look me up. 

“Oh, you’re donned up. are you?” he re- 
marked. “And, upon my word, you’re looking 
quite spry.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


17 


But I was not to be soothed by such negative 
flattery as this, and sternly asked Jerry what he 
meant by “looking quite spry.” 

“ Why, spry, you know, spry means — at least, 
I mean — that you look as if you were going to 
a prayer meeting ; that is, you look so prim, and 
tidy, and straight. But, Dorrie, dear, I like 
you far better as you were this morning, and as 
you generally are. You look real jolly then.” 

paying this, Jerry kissed me warmly, and I 
forthwith resigned myself to the hopelessness 
of attempting to improve my appearance. This 
morning I had worn an old lilac print that had 
originally been made for Belle. It was faded 
with much washing, and possessed sundry little 
adornments in the way of frayed edges and 
sleeves out at elbows. Truly, Belle had been 
right, after all, and it was sheer folly on my 
part to rebel against fate, since neither coaxing 
nor rebelling seemed to propitiate her. Seeing, 
therefore, how stern and uncompromising she 
was with me, I resolved to take less notice of 
her in future, and had no sooner made the re- 
solve than I began to feel peaceful and self- 
possessed. What if the gift of beauty was 
denied me, had I not many other blessings to be 
thankful for? In all my seventeen years of life 
I had never had anything but the most robust 
health, and if my school record was anything to 


18 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


go by, I possessed a much more valuable prop- 
erty in the way of brains than Belle did. These 
should outweigh my physical defects, and prove 
my passport to the world’s good graces. 

I dare say Jerry was rather surprised to see 
me suddenly straighten myself up, and assume 
a much more cheerful expression. 

“What is Lady Elizabeth like?” I asked. 

“ Looks?” 

“No, ways.” 

“Well, I take her to be rather a brick, do you 
know. She was as pleasant and as much at 
home with Belle and me as if she had lived here 
all her life and had just been off for a holiday. 
She thinks we are just like pa, and that is high 
praise, I should fancy.” 

“Very high praise, Jerry. I wonder what 
she’ll say about me. But it doesn’t matter. Is 
dinner nearly served?” 

“Yes; but John was grumbling because you 
hadn’t helped to see that the table was all right, 
as you had promised to do.” 

“Oh! Poor John. It was a shame of me to 
forget all about him. I’ll hurry doWn now and 
see what I can do. Come on, Jerry.” 

A minute later we were both skipping nim- 
bly downstairs, and while Jerry, at my earnest 
request, ran round to the stable to see how my 
bulb-terrier, Bobby, was progressing, I ran into 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


19 


the kitchen to make my peace with John and 
Martha. As Martha was somewhat sulky, and 
protested that they had managed very well with- 
out me, I made my way to the dining-room, and 
began swiftly to re-arrange the flowers which 
I had culled for the table earlier in the day. 
John looked rather scandalized, and remarked 
that he thought he knew how to arrange a table 
as well as most folks. But I did not heed John’s 
grumbling much, for it was his chronic condi- 
tion, and I had, just completed my little task to 
my own satisfaction when John rang the second 
dinner-bell, the first not having been noticed by 
me. 

Just then Jerry came back. 

“Bobby will be all right in a day,” he said, 
whereat I expressed my satisfaction, for I had 
been greatly troubled when poor Bobby had 
come limping home with every sign of war 
about him. 

“And, oh!” I said, with sudden remem- 
brance, “what has been done with the wonderful 
carriage and pair, and those gorgeous servants?” 

“They went straight home. They belong to 
the earl. He sent them to meet Lady Elizabeth 
at the station. Her own carriages are coming 
after she has seen what arrangements it will be 
best to make here. I fancy she doesn’t like the 
place very much.” 


20 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Not like the Grange?” I exclaimed indig- 
nantly. “ Why, she must be a veritable 
heathen — ” 

“Dora, I regret that you should think fit to 
behave so badly, but must demand a little of 
your attention, while I introduce you to the 
notice of Lady Elizabeth Courtney.” 

Was ever luck like mine? Here had I quite 
lost sight of the fact that my father and his 
wife might enter the room at any time, and they 
had actually overheard me speak in tones of 
contempt of the one woman on earth whom I 
wished to propitiate! I turned hurriedly round, 
and saw my father, looking very irate, Lady 
Elizabeth, looking coldly critical, and Belle, 
looking ill-naturedly triumphant. 

“I beg your pardon, papa. I did not mean 
it,” I stammered. 

“No, I do not suppose you did. mean us to 
overhear you,” he replied sternly. “But I have 
no doubt that you had resolved to be intensely 
disagreeable, and I tell you plainly that I will 
not have it. You see, my love,” he said, turn- 
ing to his wife, “you will have a little temper 
and self-will to deal with, but I am sure you 
will know how to compel it to keep within due 
bounds. ’ ’ 

What could I do or say after that? Nothing, 
of course, and I sat miserably through the whole 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


21 


meal, while all but Jerry laughed and talked as 
if quite unconscious of my presence. I would 
fain have escaped to my own room when the 
dinner was over. But my father had taken it 
into his head that I merely wanted to be ob- 
stinate and disagreeable, and suggested that I 
should spend an hour in the drawing-room. I 
accordingly took refuge at the piano. But my 
music was so melancholy that I am not sur- 
prised that I was asked to desist, for, when you 
come to think of Jt, “Killigrew’s Lament,” and 
“The Dead March in Saul,” haven’t a very 
bridal sound about them. 

So far Lady Elizabeth had not spoken directly 
to me, and whenever my eyes wandered in her 
direction, I could see that her glance was very 
critical, but I could not be sure that it was quite 
so disapproving as I had expected. Yet, al- 
though I neither spoke, nor was spoken to, there 
was no constraint between the others, for my 
father and Lady Courtney were both good con- 
versationalists, and Belle could chatter by the 
hour, provided the talk was kept at a suitably 
frivolous level. Jerry, after being petted and 
praised a little, had been sent to bed primed with 
a quartet of kisses, and jubilant in the posses- 
sion of a bright sovereign which papa had given 
to him in honor of the advent of a new mistress 
at Courtney Grange. 


22 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Belle, dear, suppose you play us one of your 
pretty pieces,” said my father. Whereupon I 
vacated the music-stool, and took refuge near 
the big oriel window which overlooked the 
orchard, and which was my especial delight. 
For it was like a small room in itself, and I did 
not feel quite so lost among its cozy, faded 
draperies as I did in any other part of our 
drawing-room, which always seemed to me to 
be much too large for the furniture that was in 
it. Belle, after a great deal of fidgeting and 
looking round at herself, to make sure that her 
dress was falling in graceful folds, struck a few 
chords on what had been a very fine piano in its 
day, but which even I, who was partial to all 
that had belonged to my mother, was compelled 
to admit was getting out of date. 

“I really don’t like to let you hear me for the 
first time on an old instrument like this, Lady 
Elizabeth,” said Belle. “If my music strikes 
you disagreeably, pray make all due allowance 
for the difficulties under which I labor.” 

“Pray don’t apologize, my dear,” answered 
Lady Elizabeth. “I know how to separate the 
faults of the instrument from those of the player, 
and the quality of the piano need not trouble 
you long, as in all probability a grand of my 
own will be here in a day or two.” 

“How delightful!” exclaimed Belle, and then 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


23 


she proceeded to give us a specimen of the skill 
which, times without number, I had been ad- 
vised to emulate. She played “The Rippling 
Cascade” in a style that was faultless as regards 
time and precision, following it up with “The 
Musical Box. ’ ’ But her playing was utterly de- 
void of expression. Pathos, tenderness, power, 
fire, were all unknown musical quantities to her, 
as they are, alas! to numbers of other conven- 
tional players; and whether it was “Home, Sweet 
Home,” or “The .Soldier’s Chorus,” each and 
everything was played with the same clock-work 
insensibility to all the laws of expression. I 
watched Lady Elizabeth narrowly, as she list- 
ened to Belle’s efforts in the mtisical line, and 
(shall I own it?) I was maliciously glad to notice 
a distinctly bored expression steal across her 
features. There was one thing in which I could 
excel my usually all-conquering sister, of which 
the lady whom we both desired to please was 
evidently a judge, and I could not help rejoicing 
in the fact that I was not quite weaponless in 
the fight for favor, though I had certainly done 
anything but shine so far. 

“What do you think of Belle’s performance?” 
asked my father, either forgetful of my presence, 
or not caring whether I overheard the con- 
versation or not. Lady Elizabeth’s reply, 
though given in a low tone, and under cover 


n 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


of the music, reached my ears quite dis- 
tinctly. 

“She is just a trifle disappointing there, Ger- 
ald. I should imagine your younger daughter, 
Dora, to be much the better artist of the two. 
She seems to be a trifle wild and ungovernable, 
but would, I think, be amenable to reason, with 
judicious handling.” 

“My dear Elizabeth, you don’t know her yet. 
Wait until you have seen more of her, and then 
you will agree with me that she is more than 
trying. Indeed, she is positively exasperating 
at times. Belle alwaj^s has some complaint to 
make of her, and I am not surprised that this 
should be so, for it is a matter of impossibility 
to make her either look or act like a lady. No 
one would dream that she was a Courtney.” 

Often and often I had felt my heart ache at 
the neglect and carelessness with which my 
father had always treated me, and I had grieved 
bitterly at the lack of outward comeliness which 
seemed to be the passport to his affection. But 
that he was actually so devoid of parental feel- 
ing as to show himself positively antipathetic to 
me had never occurred to me. Now, as I heard 
him saying things which must make me almost- 
hateful in Lady Elizabeth’s eyes, I felt myself 
harden toward him, and the love which I had 
hitherto cherished for him fell from me like a 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


25 


worn-out mantle s What! oh, what had I ever 
done that he should do that which presumably 
only my bitterest enemy would do to me? Why 
should he try to prejudice me in the eyes of his 
wife? Had he no remembrance of the mother 
who loved me with a love equal to that which 
she bore for himself and his happier children? 
W as he quite forgetful of all the little efforts I 
had always made to increase his comfort? Did 
he really regard me as quite removed from the 
sphere of a lady, because I had worked hard, 
and made my hands red and unsightly, ever 
since I had realized how difficult it was for 
Martha and John to manage our big house effi- 
ciently without assistance? I, in my blindness, 
had hoped that he would commend me for my 
industrious habits, and it was a bitter awaken- 
ing to discover that he only rated me on a par 
with, perhaps, a scullery maid. 

I could feel my eyes begi n to gain the fire they 
usually lacked, and the hot blood suffused my 
cheeks as I sat trembling with anger, and fight- 
ing madly to prevent myself from uttering the 
reproaches that forced themselves to my lips. It 
would be well, I thought, to keep quiet until the 
end of the play, and hear the verdict which 
Lady Elizabeth would pronounce upon me. I 
therefore listened for her answer with tightly 
clasped hands and motionless form, but with my 


26 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


attention strained to the utmost, Belle having 
meanwhile reached the most flourishy part of 
“ Household Harmonies. ” 

“Do you think it quite fair to the child,” 
said my stepmother, “to give implicit credence 
to what one sister says to the detriment of the 
other, without giving the latter a chance to de- 
fend herself? Do not imagine for a moment I 
have a thought of reproaching you. But I can- 
not help contrasting the love and admiration 
you so openly display for Belle with the cold- 
ness and actual displeasure with which you look 
at Dora. May not this have much to do with 
the girl’s presumably bad temper and gauche 
manners? You see, I want to make the best of 
ail belonging to you, Gerald, and I am inclined 
to think that there is more in your younger 
daughter than you have given her credit for. ’ ’ 
“I should be only too glad to discover a single 
good quality in Dora,” replied my affectionate 
father. “But I repeat that she is really hope- 
less, and assure you, for your own future guid- 
ance, that her disposition is on a par with her 
looks, than which nothing could very well be 
more disappointing, considering the fact that 
she is the offspring of a house which for genera- 
tions has been famous for its beauty.” 

“But a beautiful body does not invariably 
hold a beautiful mind, and of course the ob- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


2 ' 


verse rule holds good. The fact is, I am not 
sure that I have not taken a fancy to Dora. I 
have an idea that she is a girl of great possibili- 
ties, under judicious management. Certainly, 
appearances are against her at present, but ap- 
pearances are but very circumstantial evidence 
at best.” 

“And how do you get over her rudeness to 
you on your arrival?” 

“You mean her failure to meet me at the 
door?” 

“Yes.” 

“Well, I rather fancy that if I had been in 
her place I should have done the same. It is bad 
enough to be such a contrast in looks to her 
handsome sister, without having her plainness 
accentuated and aggravated by the most unbe- 
coming attire that could possibly have been pro- 
cured for her. Belle is beautifully dressed, and 
Dora’s frock is simply hideous. Her hair, too, 
is plastered down in as ugly a fashion as pos- 
sible. I mean to alter all that, and the result 
will astonish you, I am sure.” 

By this time Belle had noticed that she had 
an unappreciative audience, and was closing the 
piano, contriving to display, as she did so, a 
certain amount of well-bred annoyance, as I 
knew instinctively without looking at her, so 
well was I used to her little ways. Lady Eliza- 


28 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


beth smiled pleasantly and said, “ Thank you, 
my dear.” My father, considerably to Belle’s 
own wonderment, appeared quite oblivious of 
her beautiful presence, a thing she had never 
had to complain of before. He looked like a 
man suddenly confronted with a new and mys- 
terious riddle, and as if he were not sure whether 
he ought not to doubt the sanity of any one who 
could deliberately say anything in favor of me. 
True, old Martha and her husband were some- 
times quite ungrudging of their commendation, 
after I had been specially useful to them. But 
they were only servants, and it was perhaps 
natural that they should judge things in a 
different way to more educated people. 

As for me, I sat like one in ecstasy, for I had 
at last found some one who was not only willing, 
but actually determined to see that I was treated 
in a manner equal to the other daughter of the 
house, and not relegated to the position of a 
menial. My father had evidently forgotten that 
I was in the room. Lady Elizabeth thought I 
had left it, as was evidenced by her parting 
words to Belie, as the latter was going up to 
her own bedroom. 

“Good-night, Belle,” she said. “To-morrow 
we will have a talk about what we will do to- 
gether in future, eh? And tell your sister that 
I hope she will be well enough to go on an ex- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 29 

ploring expedition with me. I’m sure she has 
a pretty garden and other interesting things of 
her own to show me. She looks like a real 
lover of nature.” 

Had my heart not been so full of conflicting 
emotion I could have laughed at Belle’s stare 
of surprise. But laughter would have been hor- 
rible to me just then, and would have seemed a 
desecration of the purer sounds that rose to my 
lips. 

Does the reader know how it feels to be in a 
state of joy so exquisite that it is difficult to 
restrain the voice from shrieking aloud and 
the limbs from dancing in wild abandonment? 
Even so did I feel when I rose from my chair 
as Belle left the room. But my excitement ran 
into the channels of gratitude and love, and I 
soon found myself kneeling at Lady Elizabeth’s 
feet, sobs shaking my frame, tears streaming 
down my cheeks, and broken words of feeling 
issuing from my lips. 

“ Dear, dear lady ! ” I cried. “ Oh, how I bless 
you for your kind words! You don’t knowhow 
I have hungered for love! You don’t know 
what a grief it was to me to seem rude to you. 
You don’t know how grateful I can be. I will 
do anything for you. I will work my fingers 
to the bone, if you wish it. I will lay my life 
down for you, if you will only give me just a 


30 ADVENTUKES OF AN UGLY GIKL. 

little corner of your heart, just a little of the 
sympathy for which my heart has been aching.” 

“My dear child,” said my stepmother, as she 
clasped me warmly to her breast, while gen- 
uine tears of sympathy actually rolled down 
her cheeks. “ My poor Dora ! of course I mean 
to love you. And I want you to remember that 
I am your mother, to whom you must come in 
all your troubles.” 

Then, with an affectionate kiss, she released 
me, and I fled to my bedroom, sobbing still with 
excitement, but proud, happy and exultant, as 
I had never been in my life. 

“ She is an angel ! ” I thought, rapturously. 
“ Oh ! how happy we shall be now ! ” 

Alas, poor mortal ! it is well for thee that the 
portals of the future are impervious to thy gaze, 
and that it is forbidden thee to know how small 
is perhaps thy destined share of happiness, the 
true elixir of life. 


CHAPTER II. 

<k In the world there is no duty more important than 
that of being* charming.” — V ictor Hugo. 

On rising next morning my first thought was 
that I must dress myself with more care than 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


31 


was usually the case with me before breakfast. 
Not that I was not always neat and tidy, as far 
as my personal toilet went. But the old dresses 
which had hitherto been deemed good enough 
for me to wear in the mornings would have to 
be discarded henceforth, and I felt quite proud 
of the suddenly accentuated importance of my 
personal appearance, as I rummaged my ward- 
robe in search of something that would be fit to 
wear in the presence of Lady Elizabeth Courtney. 

But I was not very successful in my search, 
and was obliged to content myself with a some- 
what shabby green striped stuff, that had been 
bought for Belle, but was made up for me, be- 
cause she took a dislike to it on seeing it at 
home. I remembered the remark Lady Eliza- 
beth had made about my hair, and tried, with 
very indifferent success, to remove the objec- 
tionable sleekiness which was its distinguishing 
feature. 

When quite ready to go downstairs I surveyed 
myself in the glass, but cannot say that I was 
delighted with the reflection which confronted 
me for a moment. It was only seven o’clock, 
and. I went to the stable ere going elsewhere, to 
see after the wants of Bobby and of my dear 
old Teddy. Teddy was a shaggy pony, whose 
looks were anything but handsome, but in whose 
society I had hitherto spent my happiest hours. 


32 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


That I should be the proud possessor of a pony 
often struck me with surprise; but it was an es- 
tablished fact, nevertheless. My uncle Graham, 
protesting that no one would buy such an ugly 
animal, had given him to me, and as Belle would 
not have been seen on the back of such an inele- 
gant steed, there was no attempt to subvert him 
to other uses than the donor intended. 

Sometimes Jerry and I wandered for miles 
with him, taking turns at having a ride on his 
broad back over the wide expanse of moorland 
in which our county rejoices. Bobby, too, al- 
ways went with us, and, next to Teddy, perhaps, 
was the dearest animal alive. I had bought 
him, for sixpence, from some boys who had been 
paid a shilling to drown him because he had the 
mange. He wasn’t handsome then, but he im- 
proved in looks when he recovered from his ill- 
ness, and he was so loving, so merry, so clever, 
and such a jolly companion altogether, that it 
would have been a terrible grief to me to part 
with him. Then both Bobby and Teddy were 
such splendid confidants. To them I poured out 
all my sorrows, and I always felt better after 
we had talked things over. They would both 
look at me so earnestly and lovingly with their 
beautiful eyes, while I told them whatever I 
had to tell. And then, to prove that they under- 
stood me, Teddy would rub me with his head, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


♦ > O 

DO 

and Bobby would first lick my fingers, and then 
give a short, sharp bark, and look defiantly 
round him, as if to challenge my enemies. 

Both animals were nearly as fond of Jerry as 
they were of me. But he was only nine years 
old, and did not understand them quite as well 
as I did. Whenever we were bent upon a long 
excursion on the moors we would take a basket 
of provisions with us. Then, when we got to a 
suitable spot, we would prepare to enjoy our 
picnic. Teddy and Bobby would lie down for 
awhile, or would amuse themselves in their own 
way, the one by nibbling at such eatables as he 
might find, and the other by excursionizing in 
search of rats. But they knew what a certain 
whistle meant, and returned promptly to our 
side as soon as they heard it. Then, having 
. unpacked our basket, we would distribute the 
luncheon. There was always a goodly bone for 
Bobby, and some apples and a few carrots for 
Teddy; and though we were no doubt a curious 
quartet, we were a very happy one, for I had 
no regrets when in the unrestrained company of 
my three chums. After lunch, we sometimes 
had a game at hide and seek among the stones 
and hillocks, Teddy in particular being very 
difficult to deceive. It was such fun to see his 
dear old nose come poking round a corner, and 
to witness him neigh and prance in his joy at 


34 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


having unearthed us, while Bobby complimented 
him on his skill by barking his admiration. 

It seemed a pity that such beautiful days 
should have an end, and we were all sorry when 
it was time to go home again. As for me, I 
used to feel my spirits leave me as we neared 
home, for I was always sure to be in some scrape 
or other on my return. It was very easy for me 
to get into trouble at any time, but the head and 
front of my offending in connection with our 
picnics was my inability to distinguish between 
scraps and bones to which Bobby was welcome, 
since no one else could eat them, and the re- 
mains of a joint which Martha had intended to 
convert into rissoles. Teddy’s apples, too, had 
a knack of being of the choicest flavor, whereas 
the green windstrewn ones were supposed to be 
good enough for a pony. 

As I now went to the stable, I could not help 
wondering how Lady Elizabeth would regard 
my pets. But I felt more assured about the 
matter than I would have done if I had thought 
about it yesterday. For if my stepmother could 
actually take a fancy to me, she was not likely 
to take exception to the ugliness of Teddy and 
Bobby. 

“Hallo, Dorrie!” I suddenly heard a voice ex- 
claim, and looking toward the kitchen-garden, 
whence the sound proceeded, I saw Jerry, hand- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


35 


in-hand with Lady Elizabeth, to whom he was 
doing the honors of the place thus early. 

4 4 We’ve been getting some strawberries for 
breakfast,” smilingly said my stepmother, 44 or, 
rather, we were going to get some, but either 
Gerald or I ate all we gathered.” 

“Well, it wasn’t me,” said Jerry. “I gath- 
ered them, and you ate them. But I can soon 
pull some more, after you have looked at my 
white rats and my rabbits.” 

4 4 And my pony,” I put in; adding, with no 
shade of reserve or shyness about me, 4 4 Do you 
always get up so early, Lady Elizabeth?” 

“Not always, especially if I am in town. But 
I am fond of rising early in the country. Be- 
sides, I wanted to explore the Grange thoroughly 
to-day. I have been here before, but it is so 
long since that I have quite forgotten what it 
is like.” 

“Do you know,” put in Jerry, “that I fancied 
yesterday you did not like the place? ” 

“And Dora thought I must be a heathen not 
to do so.” 

4 4 Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed hur- 
riedly. “It was very presumptuous of me. But 
I have lived here all my life, and to me no place 
can be nicer than Courtney Grange.” 

4 4 That remains to be proved,” said my step- 
mother, with a smile. “I have an idea that the 


36 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


sanitary arrangements of this place are bad. 
Should this really prove the case, we shall vacate 
the Grange in favor of a pretty place of my 
own.” 

“Leave the Grange!” I cried aghast. “Why, 
that would be awful ! I should look uglier than 
ever anywhere else.” 

“On the contrary, it is just possible, Dora, 
that this place is to blame for your unsatis- 
factory complexion. Perhaps your bedroom is 
a specially unhealthy one. Your father has 
promised to employ some sanitary engineers at 
once, to examine the place. Meanwhile I have 
left my maid at Sunny Knowe, and we are all 
going next week to pay a visit to that place. 
Your father is quite willing that you should all 
three accompany us, and I am sure you will 
enjoy your visit.” 

“But I have no pretty clothes to be seen else- 
where in.” 

“We will soon alter that. I am very glad 
that Ernestine did not come with me. I can 
manage very well for a week without her, and 
it is just as well that neither she nor any other 
servant of mine should criticise you at present. 
You will show to much better advantage in new 
clothes, and may as well create as good an im- 
pression as possible, even upon the servants, who 
can be very neglectful of people who do not 


ADVENTURES . OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


37 


strike them as important. I intend you to be 
considered as important as your sister, who is 
very lovely, but who must not monopolize all 
the attention due to you.” 

“Indeed, I do not want attention or assistance. 
I am quite used to looking after both myself and 
others, and cannot expect the same politeness as 
Belle. See, these are my pets, and I love them 
dearly, for they both love me.” 

Bobby always slept with Teddy, and it was 
no unusual thing to see the two friends come to 
meet me, as they did on this particular morning, 
Teddy brushing my arm by way of salute and 
uttering a delighted neigh, while Bobby barked 
his “good-morning” quite plainly. 

“They have brought you to se§ some lovely 
animals,” said a voice at this juncture. It was 
my father, who had joined us, preparatory to 
going in to breakfast, and who gazed at me with 
manifest displeasure. 

“I’m afraid, my dear,” he continued, “that 
you will be somewhat disgusted at being taken 
the round of stableyards and back premises. 
But I should have warned you as to what you 
might expect from Dora. Her tastes are invet- 
erately low.” 

“Then lam afraid I am low, too,” laughed 
Lady Elizabeth, “for I have actually been en- 
joying myself. I was always sorry that I had 


38 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIR1 . 


no children of my own, and a few fresli young 
spirits about me will complete my happiness 
in marrying you. Come along, children. We 
mustn’t keep your father waiting for his break- 
fast.” 

My father was not severe or ill-natured, except 
when irritated by the sight of the child who was 
a veritable eyesore to him, and he would have 
had to be a churl indeed to resist his wife’s 
sunny ways. He was smiling pleasantly at her, 
and had turned to walk toward the house, hav- 
ing offered her his arm, when I hastily whis- 
pered to her: “Pray excuse Jerry and me for 
a moment, while we gather those strawberries.” 
And then I ran off, followed by Jerry, and 
knowing full well that my desire to procure 
Lady Elizabeth a plentiful supply of the fruit 
of which she seemed fond would provoke my 
father’s displeasure again, simply because it 
would strike him as another undesirable ex- 
hibition of my notoriously independent man- 
ners. 

But I no longer felt any particular desire to 
please him, and only cared to be of service to 
the dear lady who would permit no prejudices 
to influence her treatment of me. As far as she 
was concerned, I meant to follow Victor Hugo’s 
advice, and be as charming and helpful as I 
could. If I could not make my appearance 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


39 


charming, 1 would charm her by a solicitous 
and persistent attention to her pleasures and 
comforts. 

It did not take the two of us long to gather a 
good supply of “Queens” and “Presidents,” and 
we reached the morning-room before the others 
had sat down to breakfast. Belle was there, at- 
tired in a pretty pale blue print, and was admir- 
ably foiled by my altogether unprepossessing 
appearance. As I saw Lady Elizabeth’s glance 
wander from Belle to myself, I knew that she 
was wondering what I could possibly wear to 
make me look, pretty ; and though I could never 
really hope to embody such a pleasant adjective 
as “pretty,” I was happy in the knowledge that 
Belle’s unpleasant theories were upset, and that 
I might possibly show a marked improvement in 
my appearance ere long. 

The rest of the day was chiefly taken up 
with explorations and consultations, and a 
good many new arrangements were made. 
Jerry, I was sorry to hear, was to be sent off 
to a French boarding school at the beginning of 
the next term. But when I heard that he was 
to spend all his holidays at home, just as if he 
were in an English school, I felt reconciled to 
the temporary absences of the bright, clever 
child who liked his ugly sister best. Jerry 
himself was quite overjoyed at the programme 


40 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


cut out for him, and promised to write us each 
and all a French letter from the first week of 
his residence in France. 

Belle, who was now twenty, was enraptured 
by the promise of next season in town, while 
I was so delighted to hear that I was to have 
efficient instruction on my favorite instrument, 
the violin, that I burst into tears, and ran 
hastily up to my own room, where I might 
vent my emotion unrestrainedly. You see, 
my tastes had met with so little sympathy here- 
tofore that I required some time to get used to 
unwonted indulgences. I was not sure that my 
happiness would not yet take unto itself wings 
and fly away, or that I was not dreaming ; for 
I had never heard of the arrival of a stepmother 
being so conducive to the welfare of the junior 
branches of the family as promised to be the case 
with us. 

My father, I noticed during the next few 
daj^s, was so supremely contented and so happy 
in the societ}^ of his wife, that I contrasted the 
coldly conventional manner in which he had 
always comported himself in my poor mother’s 
presence, and was able to see that the feeling 
he had borne for her was but poor stuff com- 
pared to the love he felt for Lady Elizabeth. I 
remember also having heard that these two were 
lovers in their youth, and it amazed me to think 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


41 


that they could have deliberately thrown aside 
the heart’s most sacred feelings in order to 
make a worldly marriage. 

I have since then become thoroughly conver- 
sant with the fact that Mammon is infinitely the 
more powerful god of the two, when it comes to 
a tussle with Cupid, and that even very esti- 
mable people lose their judgment when called 
upon to choose between them. And yet, how 
can they honestly utter their marriage vows, 
when the heart is given away from the one 
they are marrying? Truly, life has many 
mysteries, which it were unprofitable work to 
attempt to solve! 

In a day or two quite an assortment of new 
clothes came for me, and it was astonishing to 
see how different I looked in the reds and yel- 
lows which I now wore. I was still the ugly 
girl of the family, but it was quite possible for 
strangers to overlook the unpleasant fact for a 
while, and I even caught myself hoping that I 
looked rather nice than otherwise, especially 
when callers began to pay their respects to the 
newly-married couple. 

Both Belle and I were introduced to nearly all 
our visitors, among the first of them being the 
Earl of Greatlands. I was rather disposed to 
like him, until he put his eyeglass up, quizzed 
me attentively, >nd remarked: “You are unfor- 


42 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


tunately very like your mother, Miss Dora, 
though I believe she had much finer hair and 
eyes than you have. But everybody improves 
in the hands of my daughter, and I have no 
doubt you will be as handsome as your sister 
by the time you are her age.” 

“I am only just twenty,” said Belle stiffly. 

“So I suppose, my dear,” rejoined the earl. 
“But you will find in a year or two that even 
the slight margin of age there is between the 
two of you will land you considerably on the 
weather-side, in other people’s opinion.” 

Belle flashed an angry glance from her beauti- 
ful eyes, being careful, however, not to let the 
earl see it, for did she not desire an invitation to 
Greatlands Castle? As for me, I felt nothing 
less than enraged, although I could not quite 
decide whether the old gentleman was deliber- 
ately rude, or only gifted with an unfortunate 
knack of making mal-a-propos speeches. But 
he did not notice that he had hurt the feelings 
of either of us, having turned his attention to 
Jerry, who, faultlessly dressed in a new black 
velvet suit, was being introduced to his step- 
mother’s father. 

“Ah! a very pretty boy,” he said. “But a 
perfect imp of mischief, I know. Boys who 
look like him always are. How many times 
have you gone out ratting?” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 43 


“Not so often as I would like, sir. Dorrie 
can’t always get away.” 

“And does Dorrie go rat-hunting?” 

“Of course she does. She has a splendid dog. 
Teddy is hers, too, and he’s just a brick.” 

“Teddy’s a brick? But of what use is a brick 
on hunting expeditions?” 

“Oh, you know what I mean. Teddy is the 
jolliest little pony in the world.” 

“You seem fond of Teddy?” 

“Rather.” 

“And of Bobby?” 

“I wonder who wouldn’t be!” 

“And of Dorrie?” 

“Why, of course!” 

“And of Belle?” 

“Belle? Well, yes, I dare say I am, when she 
doesn’t sneak on Dorrie.” 

“Gerald, I think you are forgetting yourself,” 
interrupted my father angrily. “That girl has 
made you worse than herself. It is just as well 
that you are going to be parted. For the present, 
you have been long enough in the drawing-room. ” 

“Very well, sir,” said Jerry, and turned to 
leave the room at once. Lady Elizabeth, I could 
see, was more amused than vexed ; Belle looked 
at both Jerry and me with angry disdain, and 
the earl just laughed as if Jerry had uttered a 
very good joke. 


44 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Wait a bit, Jerry,” he said. “If the others 
will excuse me for a few minutes, I would like 
you to show me this wonderful dog and pony. 
And as they are Dorrie’s property she will per- 
haps he good enough to come with us.” 

As nobody entered any objection to the earl’s 
proposals, I accompanied him from the room, 
and five minutes later he and Jerry and I were 
interviewing Teddy and Bobby, who had been 
having a gambol at the foot of the orchard. 
The orchard was not a place they were supposed 
to frisk about in. But somebody had carelessly 
left the wicket open, and it was not their fault, 
poor things, that a choice young “ribstone pip- 
pin” had been snapped in two during their 
frolics. 

The earl was certainly a funny man. He was 
as different from what I had always supposed 
an earl to be as was possible. In fact, he was 
more like a jolly old farmer than anything else. 
But what a gossip he seemed to be ! And how 
inquisitive he was! He laughed immoderately 
at sight of my pets, but immediately soothed 
my wounded feelings by stroking and patting 
them, and I could see that they both took a 
fancy to him at once. It wasn’t everybody that 
Teddy would sidle up to in the dear, winning 
way he had, or to whom Bobby would wag his 
approval. But perhaps they were both in a bet- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 45 

ter humor than usual ; for Bobby had uncovered 
one of the mushroom beds, and had helped him- 
self to a few of the fungi, of which he was inor- 
dinately fond, while naughty Teddy, as several 
broken branches testified, had been feasting on 
unripe “Dutch mignonnes ” and “Duke of 
Oldenburghs. ” 

“Nice animals,” said the earl. “Just the sort 
I would have expected your property to be, eh, 
Dorrie?” 

“My name is Dora.” 

“But Jerry calls you Dorrie.” 

“He is privileged. He likes me.” 

“And how do you know that I don’t like you?” 

“You? I don’t see how you can. Very few 
people do.” 

“Perhaps I am one of the few. At any rate, 
I mean to call you Dorrie. It sounds nicer be- 
tween friends than ‘Miss Dora,’ doesn’t it?” " 

“Now you are making fun of me. And you 
would make even more fun of me, if I were to 
believe that the Earl of Greatlands wanted to be 
friendly with an ugly, uninteresting girl like 
me.” 

“Isn’t Lady Elizabeth friendly with you?” 

“Oh, she is an angel!” 

“Well,* please to remember that I am that 
angel’s father, and of the same species. Don’t 
you see my wings?” 


46 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


At this we all three laughed, and we enjoyed 
each other’s society very well for about half an 
hour, during which time we had shown our visi- 
tor all sorts of things that I had never dreamed 
would interest an earl. 

Suddenly he exclaimed: “And now I must go 
back to the house, or I shall be getting into hot 
water with the old people, eh? But look here, 
Jerry, what has Belle got to sneak about?” 

“Now, Jerry, don’t you turn sneak,” I 
warned. 

“You don’t need to be afraid. But Belle is 
horrid, after that. She’s always saying that 
Dome’s ugly. And I’m sure she isn’t really 
ugly* is she?” 

The latter question was addressed to the earl. 
But I did not wait to hear his answer, for I was 
thoroughly angry with Jerry, for once, and re- 
turned to the house unceremoniously, leaving 
them to go back when they liked. Of course I 
was not behaving politety. But I am afraid 
that very polished manners were really a little 
out of my line at that time, and, after all, it was 
too bad of Jerry to turn the conversation on to 
my unfortunate ugliness, just when we were 
having such a nice time of it. Instead of going 
back to the drawing-room, I went straight to 
the kitchen, where I was busily occupied for the 
next two hours in helping Martha to shell “mar- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


47 


rowfats,” to prepare salad, to make a pudding 
and some cheesecakes, and in other ways to do 
my best toward making dinner a success. Belle 
never condescended to enter the kitchen at any 
time, nor would my father have liked her to risk 
spoiling the perfect loveliness of her hands. But 
Martha and John had never suffered from lack 
of work, and some help was absolutely needed 
by them. True, a strong girl from the village 
of Moorbye had been engaged now to do the 
rougher part of the housework, but even then 
there was plenty of room for my assistance. 

That evening the Earl of Greatlands dined 
with us, as did also Lord Egreville, his son, who 
had ridden over to pay his respects to his sister 
and her husband. He was a widower, and re- 
sided with his father at Greatlands Castle, his 
two sons being at Oxford. I did not like him 
at all, and he took no pains to conceal the fact 
that he considered me to be very small fry in- 
deed. But he was quite fascinated by Belle’s 
beauty, and flirted desperately with her. She 
seemed perfectly willing to receive his atten- 
tions, and certain amused glances which I saw 
exchanged between Lady Elizabeth, the earl, 
and my father, set my thoughts working in an 
odd direction. 

What a queer thing it would be, I mused, if 
this Lord Egreville and Belle were to fall in 


48 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


love with each other, and make a match of it! 
How it would complicate relationships. Why, 
let me see, Belle would become her father’s 
sister-in-law, and would be a sort of aunt to 
Jerry and myself, while the old earl could call 
himself either her father-in-law, or her grand- 
father-in-la vv, if he liked. The situation pre- 
sented so many funny aspects, that I felt it 
necessary to relinquish my dessert-spoon while 
I abandoned myself to a fit of laughter that ob- 
stinately refused to be repressed. 

As there was apparently nothing to laugh at, 
my manners were again called into question, 
chiefly by the innocent and unconscious cause 
of my amusement. 

A few days after this, the sanitary engineers 
were at work on Courtney Grange, and we were 
all domiciled pro tem at Sunny Knowe, a lovely 
place in its way, but not nearly equal to what 
Courtney Grange would be when thoroughly 
restored. Oddly enough, a distant relation, 
from whom mj^ father had never expected any- 
thing, died at this juncture, and bequeathed 
him several thousand pounds. His income had 
never been large enough to keep the place up as 
it ought to have been kept, and the Grange had 
therefore fallen considerably out of repair. Now 
that he was married to a lady with an ample in- 
come he could spare his newly acquired fortune 


49 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

for repairing purposes, and resolved to spend 
nearly the whole of it on that object. 

Under the circumstances, we were not likely 
to return to the Grange much before Christmas. 
But we did not trouble about that, as the Knowe 
was a very pleasant place to live at. I had, 
very much to my sorrow, left Teddy under John 
Page’s care, for Lady Elizabeth desired me to 
ride a more presentable steed while at the Knowe. 
I was provided, with a wejl-made habit, and had 
the use of a handsome horse. But the decorous 
rides I now took, in company with Belle, and 
with a groom following closely, were not to be 
compared with the delightful excursions Teddy 
and I had had together, though Belle enjoyed 
them, and the altered state of things was evi- 
dently regarded by her as a great improvement. 

As it had been necessary to leave Teddy be- 
hind, I could not be cruel enough to bring Bobby 
away and leave him without a friend to talk to. 
John had promised to look well after them both, 
but I knew that they would miss me sadly, and 
longed for the time when I could comfort them 
again with my presence. Lady Elizabeth was 
very good to me, but at times I was not sure 
that I did not regret the old spells of unconven- 
tional freedom. 

So true is it that we are prone to lose sight of 
the privileges and blessings of the present in 


50 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


the vain longing after a vanished past, in which 
we could find little to be joyful at, when it was 
with us. In my case, I was ready to let the 
memory of our halcyon days on the moors out- 
weigh that of all the days of neglect and misery 
during which I had craved for the mother’s love 
which had once blessed me. 

The * Earl of Greatlands and his son spent a 
good deal of time at the Knowe, and we, in our 
turn, saw much of the castle, which had been 
thoroughly rehabilitated since Lady Elizabeth’s 
first husband had been good enough to furnish 
the money wherewith to do it. It was a fine 
old place, and it was pleasant to see what pride 
its owner took in ail connected with it. Lord 
Egreville was very attentive to Belle, but it was 
difficult to decide how far the element of serious- 
ness entered into the behavior of either of them. 
There was a prudent reticence on the part of 
Lord Egreville at times that annoyed Belle very 
much, because it argued that he was not quite 
so infatuated with her as she would have liked 
him to be. 

And yet, I do not believe she cared for him 
one atom, although she gave him more than 
sufficient encouragement to proceed with his 
attentions — up to a certain point. Gnce, when 
in a very gracious mood, she became quite con- 
fidential with me. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


51 


“It would be a very good match, even for me, 
who have always meant to do well for myself,” 
she said. “The estate is quite unencumbered, 
and in first-class order. Lord Egreville is not 
very good-looking. But I would tolerate his 
looks if I cannot do better for myself. Though 
certainly it would be a great thing to become 
an English countess.” 

“ But Lord Egreville will not be an earl until 
his father dies.” 

“ His father, as you seem to forget, is close 
upon seventy, and cannot live forever.” 

“How horrid it seems to count upon dead 
men’s shoes like that!” 

“ Don’t excite yourself, my dear. If Lord 
Egreville were to* propose to me to-morrow, I 
would not give him a decided answer. I must 
see what my homing season in town brings 
forth. I might captivate a much richer noble- 
man, or even a millionaire pill or soap manu- 
facturer. At any rate, I am not going to throw 
myself away in too great a hurry.”. 

“ 4 A bird in the hand—’ You know the rest.” 

“Yes, I know the rest. But my motto is: 
‘Look before you leap.’” 

“Well, I hope you won’t leap into a big bog- 
hole, that’s all.” 

“ Well, no. I will leave that suicidal perform- 
ance for those who can never hope to leap any 


52 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

higher. How do you like this brooch? Lord 
Egreville sent it this morning.” 

“ If I were you, I would tell him to keep his 
dead wife’s jewelry a little longer. He might 
require it for some one else, if you pick up a 
duke or a millionaire.” 

Having had my parting shot, I judged it wise 
to leave Belle to her own devices, and went off 
to my little room, where I practiced industrious- 
ly on my fiddle for an hour and a half. There 
were plenty of servants here, and I had no ex- 
cuse for offering to help with the cooking, 
though I would have liked nothing better. In- 
deed, I had often thought that if I had not be- 
longed to a family in which it was necessary to 
keep up appearances, I would have become a 
professional cook. But I had still a little con- 
genial employment to turn to. Jerry was going 
off to school this week, and I had undertaken 
to mark all his things myself, besides making 
him sundry little knick-knacks that would prove 
useful to him. 

I found it very hard to part with Jerry, when 
the time came for him to go, and was rather 
hurt to find that he cared less about leaving us 
behind, than he did about the delights of travel 
and school-life to which he was looking forward. 

“I did think you would be sorry to leave me,” 
I murmured, reproachfully, just as he was being 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


53 


resigned to the charge of the tutor who was go- 
ing to accompany him to the school, and after- 
ward take part in teaching the boys. 

“Well, what’s a fellow to do?” Jerry re- 
joined. “You wouldn’t have me to cry and 
look like a muff, w T ould you? It isn’t the same 
as if I was a girl. It wouldn’t matter then if I 
cried my eyes red.” 

“No more it would, Jerry. Good-by, dear. 
And you’ll be sure to write often to me?” 

“Quite sure. Good-by, Dorrie. Good-by, 
pa. And, oh! Dorrie, I’ve forgotten my bag of 
marbles, and my new top. Will you send them 
to me?” 

There was barely time to answer in the affirm- 
ative, and then the child was off. Then my 
father, having seen me comfortably seated in 
the waggonette in which we had driven to the 
station, flicked his whip, and off we started on 
our return drive, little dreaming of the terrible 
events which were to come to pass ere the dear 
boy from whom we had just parted came back 
to the home he left so blithely. 


54 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


CHAPTER III. 

“ Tis the unlikely that always happens.” 

My life seemed strangely quiet without Jerry 
for the next few days, and I longed all the more 
to console myself with Bobby and Teddy. But 
one gets used to the absence of anybody in time, 
and Lady Elizabeth’s arrangements were so 
promotive of the comfort and pleasure of all 
with whom she lived that it would have seemed 
ungrateful of me to suggest that I should be 
glad when the time came to go back to the 
Grange. Still, it was true that, apart from the 
loss of Jerry’s companionship, I had conceived 
a desire to leave Sunny Knowe. The Earl of 
Greatlands had become unpleasantly effusive to 
me. He was constantly paying me compli- 
ments, which were all the more galling as they 
were made with a perfectly grave mien. Had 
Belle been the recipient, there would have been 
nothing objectionable about them, as she could 
have received them in the full conviction that 
they were honestly meant. But for me, whose 
ugliness was proverbial, to be addressed as 
“pretty dear” and “dainty dove,” was very bit- 
ter indeed; for it was bad enough to be fully con- 
scious of a total absence of all that was dainty 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


55 


and pretty, without being publicly satirized, 
and held up to the unfeeling laughter of Belle 
and her admirer, Lord Egreville. 

One afternoon my temper, which of late had 
lain in abeyance, re-asserted itself in a startling 
manner. We were all in the drawing-room, 
with several of the neighboring gentry, who had 
come over to confabulate about some tableaux 
vivanis that there had been some talk of get- 
ting up. Several satisfactory groups had been 
decided upon; but, apparently by common con- 
sent, nobody had suggested that I should take 
a part in the performances, until the earl re- 
marked : ‘ ‘ Look here, there seems to be a strange 
want of judgment among you. You have left 
the flower of the flock out of your calculations, 
and I propose that she and I represent ‘Beauty 
and the Beast.’ I can soon dress up as the 
‘Beast,’ and she can fill her part satisfactorily.” 

“And pray who is the ‘flower of the flock ’ ?” 
said Belle, who was to represent “Guinevere.” 

“Who else but winsome Dora?” retorted the 
earl, whereat there was an undisguised laugh on 
the part of Belle and a few more of her caliber, 
while the rest smiled in good-natured toleration 
of so palpable an absurdity. Just for one in- 
stant I turned sick with humiliation. Then I 
walked up to the earl, and, with my ey jS flash- 
ing angrily, hissed rather than said: ‘ You are 


56 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


an old man, my lord. I am but a young girl. 
You think that you may hold me up to ridicule 
and laughter with impunity. But I vow you 
shall do so no longer. Shall I tell you what I 
will do if you dare to insult me in that manner 
again ?” . 

“Dora, how dare you! ” exclaimed my father 
angrily. “If you have forgotten how to behave 
yourself, I must request you to go to your own 
room at once. — I told you how it would be,” he 
remarked to Lady Elizabeth. 

“Tut, tut!” put in the earl. “Let the girl 
alone, Courtney. This little bit of an outburst 
is my especial prerogative, and I would like to 
hear the whole of it. What will you do if I 
repeat the kind of conversation which seems to 
rouse your ire? Why shouldn’t I call you a 
beauty?” 

“Because I have a right to demand that you 
should cease to satirize my unfortunate appear- 
ance, and because I will no longer submit quietly 
to listen to compliments which become insults 
when applied to me.” 

“But you have not yet told me how you will 
prevent me from saying just what I please.” 

“If you are so little of a gentleman as to re- 
peat your conduct, I will — I will slap your face !” 

“This is too disgraceful!” interposed my 
father a^ ain. “Once more 3 Dora — ” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


57 


“ I have to beg you once more to peritiit me to 
finish this little affair in my own way,” said 
the earl, who was actually laughing, so utterly 
insignificant and childish did he deem my anger. 
“So you would slap my face, eh? Well, there’s 
nothing would please me better. I like a girl 
with some go in her. And you know you really 
are the nicest, bonniest — ” 

Five minutes later I was in my own room, 
feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself. I had 
not permitted the Earl of Greatlands to finish 
his preposterous compliment. But I certainly 
had disgraced myself in the eyes of my father, 
of Lady Elizabeth, and of sundry other people 
who witnessed my exit from the drawing-room 
and its predisposing cause. For I had really 
slapped the old earl’s face, even as I had threat- 
ened to do. He would probably not annoy me 
in the same way again. Indeed, it was proble- 
matical if he would ever speak to me again; for, 
after all, my conduct must seem inexcusable in 
the opinion of all but myself. For how could I 
expect any one else to understand how bitter it 
was to me to have my lack of comeliness held 
up to the laughter and contumely of more 
favored mortals. 

Next morning, when I came down to break- 
fast, I found my father awaiting my advent in 
the morning room, and braced myself for the 


58 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


reprimand which I knew to be inevitable. Said 
reprimand was even more severe than I had an- 
ticipated, but my affectionate parent displayed 
such a total lack of the consideration which I 
felt was the due of my own wounded feelings, 
that, somehow, I no longer felt sorry for what 
I had done, but maliciously resolved to adopt 
equally drastic measures if ever I should be in- 
sulted in like manner again. 

“I was never so ashamed in my life,” supple- 
mented Belle, who had come in while my father 
was talking, and had listened with a smile to 
his lecture. 

“I am glad to hear you say so,” said the 
voice of Lady Elizabeth. “It really was a 
shame to laugh when you saw how Dorrie was 
being tormented.” 

“Indeed, it is Dora I was ashamed of, not 
myself. It is not likely that I shall ever dis- 
grace myself in like manner.” So said Belle, 
and then the very absurdity of the suggestion 
that she would ever be tormented for the same 
reason that I had been provoked the girl to ir- 
resistible laughter, and served to prove how 
utterly heartless she could really be where my 
feelings were concerned. 

That afternoon the earl rode over to Sunny 
Knowe and surprised me by greeting me even 
more cordially than ever. Evidently he thought 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


59 


me too insignificant and childish to be offended 
with, while I considered that the best thing I 
could do would be to make no further allusion to 
yesterday’s contretemps. He did not seem in- 
clined to tease me any more, and the remainder 
of that day passed pleasantly, as did many more 
ere wereturned to the Grange. 

When at last we were installed in our old 
home again, we were astonished at the wonder- 
ful improvements that money and taste had been 
able to effect in and around it. It was now a 
grand old place, worthy of the imposing view 
it commanded and the fine trees by which its 
grounds were dotted. My father both looked 
and felt like a rich landed proprietor, as he sur- 
veyed the realm which, thanks to Lady Eliza- 
beth’s income, he would be able to support in a 
style becoming the dignity of the Courtneys, 
who had once owned all the land for miles 
around. A new wing had been added, for the 
comfort of Lady Elizabeth, whose rooms were 
situated here, and who had brought such a 
quantity of beautiful new furniture with her 
that the Grange was a veritable palace of de- 
light to Belle and myself, who had never known 
anything but shabby surroundings. My bed- 
room was now of my own choosing, and had 
been furnished exactly like Belle’s. 

I wrote glowing accounts to Jerry of all that 


60 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


was being done, and was especially careful to 
give him full details concerning Bobby and 
Teddy, and the rats and rabbits. Poor Jerry! 
he was to have come home for the Christmas 
holidays, and they were close at hand when a 
serious accident befell him. He had been too 
venturesome in some of the school sports, with 
the result that he had a severe fall and fractured 
his right leg. His father was telegraphed for at 
once and lost no time in reaching him. Mean- 
while, the boy had been treated by a skillful sur- 
geon, and there was every prospect of his pro- 
gressing satisfactorily toward recovery. But it 
was deemed inadvisable to move him at present, 
so poor Jerry had, to forego his anticipated holi- 
day at home. 

“I felt awfully sorry for Kendall,” he wrote 
in his weekly letter home, “because his father 
and mother were dead, and he would have to 
spend his holidays at school. How I am jolly 
well glad, for he will be company for me.” 

It must not be imagined that Jerry was par- 
ticularly selfish in expressing himself thus. It 
was only his youthful vagueness that was at 
fault. The writing, under the circumstances, 
was hardly legible. But I thought it very brave 
of the child to write at all. 

Meanwhile, Christmas approached and passed 
with comparative uneventfulness. True, Lord 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


61 


Egreville had proposed to Belle. But she had 
declined to give him a definite answer, on the 
plea that she was too young to be engaged just 
now ; the truth being that she was determined 
not to labor under the disadvantage of being 
already out of the running when she went to 
London for the season. 

A house in town had been rented for us, and 
in due course we all migrated thither. I had 
hardly expected to be introduced to London 
society yet, and Belle openly grumbled at the 
idea. But Lady Elizabeth generally got her 
own way in everything, and when she inti- 
mated that there was no reason why I should 
not enjoy myself like the rest there was no 
opposition from my father. Arrived in London, 
however, I found that people were by no means 
inclined to make a fuss over me, while the 
“ beautiful” Miss Courtney was feted and courted 
to her heart’s content. 

Still, the proposals she had confidently ex- 
pected were sopiewhat chary in realizing them- 
selves, and when they did come they were not 
as superlatively tempting as they might have 
been. The fact was, it was pretty generally 
known that Belle would have no dowry to speak 
of, and though plenty of young aristocrats ad- 
mired her immensely, they deemed it advisable 
to offer their affections and society at the shrine 


62 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


of Mammon. There were a couple of million- 
aires in the market. But, incredible as it seemed 
to Belle, there were other girls in London whose 
physical charms equaled her own, and to these 
other girls the millionaires succumbed. 

Belle fumed. Belle raged. Belle almost an- 
athematized. Belle hated her victorious rivals. 
But Belle was wily, and presented an unruffled 
front in the presence of Lady Elizabeth and her 
relatives. She made the most of the proposals 
she did get, but professed her inability to love 
the proposers. Love, indeed ! Could such a 
beautiful sentiment find an entrance into her 
cold breast? Impossible! What she coveted 
was wealth and station, and when, toward the 
end of the season, Lord Egreville’s proved to be 
the most eligible offer, she accepted him, and 
had the felicity of seeing her engagement re- 
corded in all the society • papers. 

I had an idea that the Earl of Greatlands did 
not care much for Belle, but had never presumed 
to give utterance to my suspicion. Lady Eliza- 
beth, however, was not quite so reticent. 

“I wish you every happiness, dear,” she said 
to Belle, kissing her warmly, “and I think that 
you and Cyril will prove very congenial com- 
panions ; but I am not sure that my father will 
like to see any mistress at the .castle, other than 
his own wife, so long as he lives. ” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


63 


“But your father has not got a wife! ” ex- 
claimed Belle, with rising resentment at what 
she considered Lady Elizabeth’s presumption; 
for, by her engagement to her brother, she was 
prospectively lifted to the same plane of rela- 
tionship, and but for the favors which her step- 
mother could bestow upon her, she would at 
once have merged the respect due to a mother 
in the aggressive equality which she deemed a 
sister-in-law’s meed. 

Lady Elizabeth’s reply startled us all. 

“ He has no wife at present,” she said, “but I 
have good reason for asserting that he contem- 
plates marriage at an early date, provided the 
lady of his choice condescends to accept 
him.” 

“ Condescends to accept him ! ” I knew very 
well what was the gist of Belle’s thoughts, as 
she sat with a sullen and dismayed face, with- 
out making even a pretense of eating the dainty 
fare which lay on her breakfast plats. 

Who wouldn’t condescend to accept him ? 
Wasn’t he nearly seventy years, old? And 
wasn’t he likely to die ere many years were 
over, leaving his widow in the untrammeled 
possession of a title that would give her the 
entree to any society? He was sure, too, to 
scrape and save all he could to provide for his 
widow after his death, and that would mean a 


64 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


considerable curtailment of the allowance which 
Lord Egreville looked for on his marriage. Be- 
sides, if the earl brought a countess to the castle, 
and Lord Egreville was asked to retire to the 
dower-house with his bride, her position would 
be by no means so imposing as she had expected 
it to be. Residence at the castle, as its nomi- 
nal mistress, had been one of Lord Egrevi lie’s 
special pleas when urging his suit, and, next to 
the acquisition of the secondary title, with the 
prospect of a succession to the primary one, had 
been one of her chief reasons for considering 
him much more of an eligible parti than her 
other suitors. 

And then, oh, horror! suppose the earl’s new 
wife should be young! Suppose there should 
actually be a child born ! Why Cyril would be 
still further despoiled to provide for the bringing 
up of the little brat. True, he could not be 
robbed of his prospective right to the earldom, 
as he was the eldest son. But an active fancy 
could easily picture no end of humiliations for 
him and his wife, if the foolish old earl were 
permitted to bring his infatuation for some 
pretty face into fruition. 

That these thoughts flew through Belle’s brain 
in the sequence in which I have recorded them 
is more than I am able to vouch for. But I 
knew her temperament and disposition so well 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 65 

that I had no hesitation in guessing the direc- 
tion of her reflections. 

“ I believe you are just saying all this to try 
me,” she said at last, looking up at Lady Eliza- 
beth with a face from which she was trying to 
banish some of the shadows. “ Now I come to 
think of it, he spends the greater part of his 
time with us, and if he were attracted by any- 
body in London, he would be more likely to 
seek her society than ours.” 

Lady Elizabeth smiled very mysteriously, but 
did not vouchsafe a more explicit reply. 

“Papa,” said Belle, impatiently, “suppose 
you look up from that stupid paper and take 
a little intelligent interest in what is going on 
around you. It’s perfectly exasperating to see 
you absorbed in an account of a shooting or fish- 
ing expedition, when the future of your eldest 
daughter is being discussed.” 

“My eldest daughter, eh? To be sure, I have 
two daughters, but the future of one of them is 
considerably in embryo yet, I should imagine. 
And what do you wish me particularly to say?” 

“ Have you known anything of the earl’s in- 
tention to get married?” 

“Well, really, now you mention it, I did hear 
some time ago that he was on the lookout for a 
suitable spouse, but I fancy the old party hasn’t 
turned up yet.” 


66 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Just what I think. Lady Elizabeth has 
simply been teasing me.” 

“ Why, my dear, do you happen to know any- 
thing definite about the matter?” 

Appealed to thus directly, Lady Elizabeth re- 
plied guardedly, “I have really been given to 
understand that my father would like to get 
married. But I am not at liberty to disclose 
the name of the lady whom he would like to 
marry.” 

“ At least tell me whether she is old or 
young,” appealed Belle, anxiously. 

“Oh, she is several years younger than my 
father, I believe.” 

With this answer Belle was forced to be sat- 
isfied, and shortly afterward we all left the 
breakfast-room . 

As for me, I had listened to the foregoing 
conversation with considerable interest, but not 
with the absorbed attention which might per- 
haps have been aroused in me, if I had had the 
least idea that the doings of the Earl of Great- 
lands could possibly affect myself. After all, 
I was really sorry for Belle. But perhaps the 
earl’s marriage might not affect her so ad- 
versely as she feared. 

At eleven o’clock Lord Egreville came to see 
Belle. I do >jxol know the exact purport of their 
conversation With each other, but I do know 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


67 


that when Belle’s fiance left the drawing-room 
he looked much less pleasant than when he en- 
tered it, and hardly seemed to have time to 
speak to the earl, who was announced at this 
juncture. Thinking I would have an hour’s 
uninterrupted practice on my violin, I went up 
to my own room, but was summoned thence 
by-and-by. 

“ Please, Miss Dora,” said Lady Elizabeth’s 
maid, “you are wanted in the library.” 

“ I am wanted in the library ! ” I echoed, in 
surprise. “ Why, who can possibly want me?” 

“ I do not know. It was milady who sent me 
to ask you to go down to the library.” 

“Is Lady Elizabeth there?” 

“ No, she is in her boudoir. Mr. Courtney is 
with her.” 

At first it struck me as very singular that 
there should be a caller who wished to see me 
alone, and then I reflected that my music-master 
had perhaps found it inconvenient to give me 
my music lesson at th : usual hour, and had 
come to ask me to change the time. Full of 
this thought, I hurried downstairs, but was 
very much surprised to be confronted, not by 
Signor Tringini, but by the Earl of Greatlands. 

“My dear child, how astonished you look,” he 
said, as, coming forward and taking my hand, 
he conducted me courteously to a seat. 


68 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Well,” 1 replied, “I cannot conceive what 
can be your object in desiring an interview with 
me. But perhaps there has been a mistake, and 
it is Belle you want.” 

“ Indeed, it is not Belle I want, but your very 
own self.” 

“I hope I have net been doing anything to 
call forth your particular displeasure. I have 
really tried to be on my best behavior with 
everybody since I came to London.” 

“ You have not displeased me yet. But you 
w^ill displease me very much, if you refuse to 
grant the request I have come to make of you.” 

“ Then I will do the best I can to avert your 
threatened displeasure by promising to grant 
your request beforehand.” 

“Ah, my dear, if I were inclined to take an 
unfair advantage, I would rejoice exceedingly 
over that promise. As it is, I am terribly afraid 
that you may retract it. Bo you happen to have 
heard of my intention to get married, if I can 
persuade a certain lady to accept me?” 

“Yes, Lady Elizabeth spoke of it this morn- 
ing. But she would not give us any clew to the 
lady’s identity, and I, at least, am very curious 
about her. I hope she is a nice old lady, and 
that she will like me. You see, she will be a 
sort of grandmother-in-law to me— with your 
permission.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


69 


“Grandmother fiddlesticks ! She isn’t old 
enough to be anybody’s grandmother. Can’t 
you guess who it is?” 

“ Why, no. How should I? I do not know 
so very many of your friends, and I really do 
not know anybody that would seem to be a suit- 
able Countess of Greatlands.” 

“Weil, it seems to me that for all-round ob- 
tuseness you beat everything! Do you think it 
likely that I would seek a private interview with 
you, in order to tell you of my intention to ask 
some one else to marry me?” 

“Then why have you come to see me?” 

“Why? Only to ask you to take pity on a 
lonely old man, and marry him. Look here, 
child, don’t jump up and look angry, for I really 
mean it. You are the only woman I would 
care to marry, and if you refuse to marry me 
I will have nobody else.” 

“Good gracious! how can a girl marry her 
grandfather? Do you forget that you are my 
stepmother’s father?” 

“And what of that? We are not really re- 
lated. Now don’t be hasty, my dear. Think Qf 
all I can do for you, and of all you can do for 
me. You shall have anything and everything 
you want, and be persented at Court. As the 
Countess of Greatlands you will be courted and 
sought after. But you can do much more for 


70 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GxRL. 


me than that. You can make the short span of 
life which yet remains to me perfectly happy. 
Say yes, my dear, and my love and gratitude 
will know no bounds.” 

But I could not say yes for a while. Yet 
neither could I say no. My astonishment was 
almost too great for words. Still, I was not 
displeased at the dazzling prospect held out to 
me. Reflect, dear reader, before you blame, 
that I had always been told that I need never 
hope to win the affection of any man, and that, 
while those around me basked in the sunshine 
of family joys, the man did not exist who would 
care to cast in his lot with mine. True, this 
man was old, and he was almost decrepit. But 
he had singled me out from the many others who 
would gladly have become Countess of Great- 
lands. In doing -so, he had done me an honor 
of which I was fully sensible, and it was such 
a joy to me to have become the best beloved of 
even an old man that my heart prompted me to 
say “yes,” as he desired. 

Still, certain scruples would obtrude them- 
selves upon my notice, and counseled a little 
hesitation. 

“Belle?” I faltered at last. “I cannot! It 
would make such a difference to Belie.” 

“It will not make the slightest difference to 
Belle, I assure you, Dorrie. She is too vain 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


71 


and frivolous for me to care about living in the 
same house with ifer. Whether I marry or not, 
Cyril and she will have to content themselves 
with th§ dower- house during my lifetime. It is 
the same with the title. They cannot have it 
until I am gone, and your present possession of 
it will not keep them out of it one day after it 
accrues to them. Come, my dear, end my sus- 
pense, and keep the promise you made me a 
while ago.” 

“My father? And Lady Elizabeth?” 

“Have no solid objections to offer.” 

Neither had I after that. But, somehow, the 
enraptured kiss with w~hich my old lover sealed 
our engagement was not the sort of thing I had 
pictured in my day-dreams, and I involuntarily 
shivered under his caresses. 

“What is it, my little pet, are you cold?” he 
asked solicitously. 

“Just a little,” was my evasive answer. 
“This room always seems chilly. But that does 
not matter. Tell me, for it seems so strange, 
how it is that you actually want to marry me, 
of all people in the vrorld. Look how ugly I 
am!” 

“You are not ugly to me, my dear. Besides, 
I am past thinking outward appearance the sole 
recommendation and guarantee of a happy life. 
I need more than mere outward beauty.” 


72 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“And you think you have found it?” 

“I am sure I have found it! And now, my 
love, with your permission, I will remain here 
until your father comes. I shall see yo # u again 
later in the day.” 

Having thus virtually received my dismissal, 
I sped up to my own room, but not before my 
ardent lover had claimed another kiss as his due. 

Did I feel glad? 

Or did I feel dismayed? 

I was really unable to tell myself which sen- 
sation predominated. I met Belle on the land- 
ing, and was conscious of a strange feeling of 
trepidation, which made me slink into my own 
room like some one guilty of a mean action. 

Oh, dear! how could I ever face them all? I 
thought. How could I ever have the presump- 
tion to pose as the superior in rank and family 
prestige to my beloved stepmother? Why, if I 
married her father, I should be her stepmother. 
And my sister’s mother-in-law ! And my father’s 
mother-in-law, too! And — could it be possible? 
— my own step-grandmother! There were no 
end of complications involved in the new ar- 
rangement; and, as I pondered over them, I 
became more and more doubtful as to the pro- 
priety of accepting the grand future held out to 
me. And yet, if I could do so without repug- 
nance on my part, and with an honest determi- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


73 


nation to prove that the earl had acted wisely in 
selecting me as the wife of his old age, why 
should I not become a great lady? Why — 

But my conjectures were interrupted at this 
juncture by a very unusual event. Belle had 
actually come to visit me in my own room! I 
knew instinctively, however, that her visit 
boded me no good, and when I looked up into 
her face, I saw that she was in a demoniacal 
temper. 

“Is it true?” she cried, as she flung herself 
on a chair just in front of me. “Is it true that 
you have actually deluded that old imbecile into 
offering marriage to you? My father has just 
told me that you are to become the Countess of 
Greatlands at a very early date. But the news 
is too monstrous for belief! A hideous little 
reptile like you to lord it over me ! A shrimp of 
a girl, whose gaucherie and ill-manners are pro- 
verbial, to dare to assume airs of superiority 
over me! I tell you it shall not be. I will not 
have it. Sooner than endure such a humilia- 
tion I would — I would — ” 

“And pray what would you do?”- I asked, 
not with the compunction I had felt a while ago 
at the idea of relegating my beautiful sister to 
a secondary position. INor yet with the anger 
which had blazed up in me on hearing the com- 
mencement of her virago-like harangue. But 


74 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


with the cool contempt of one who feels that her 
position is impregnable, and that her assailant 
is beneath consideration. “And how will you 
prevent an arrangement with which you are not 
of sufficient importance to be permitted to inter- 
fere?” 

Perhaps it was astonishment at the unwonted 
courage with which I met her assault. Perhaps 
it was a sudden access of prudence. But what- 
ever the cause, the effect was the same. Belle 
declined to tell me how she would prevent my 
marriage with the earl. But she continued to 
revile me for some minutes as treacherous, de- 
ceitful and scheming, and wound up by saying 
that I need not congratulate myself upon my 
seeming triumph, as Lord Egreville would cer- 
tainly not permit his father to perpetrate the 
folly he contemplated, even if he had to swear 
that he was no longer responsible for his actions. 

To all this I steadfastly refused any further 
reply, and, becoming tired of leveling abuse 
which seemed to make no impression, Belle left 
the room as suddenly as she had entered it. 
Once alone, I found that my own feelings with 
regard to the coming event had undergone a 
complete revolution. I no longer entertained 
the slightest doubt as to the propriety of having 
consented to accept the earl. On the contrary, 
I was strongly determined to fulfill my promise, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


75 


and to remove myself forever from the tyranny 
of Belle’s reproaches and airs of superiority. 
Very much to my own surprise, too, I felt very 
indignant at the slights cast upon the earl, and 
found my heart warm considerably toward him. 
For, when I came to think of it, he had always 
treated me kindly, and even when I thought he 
was deliberately insulting me, he must really 
have meant what he said. That his taste was 
peculiar, to say the least, was patent even to 
myself, but that was all the more reason for 
gratitude and love on my part. 

Gratitude? Yes, that was undoubted. Love? 
Why not? Surely it is not so very hard for the 
one to engender the other. 

Presently Lady Elizabeth came to my door 
and asked my permission to enter. This was 
readily given, though I already felt very much 
overwrought, and dreaded the coming inter- 
view. But I need not have been uneasy about 
that ; for, as usual, my good stepmother had only 
my welfare at heart. 

“ I am afraid Belle has been giving you an 
uncomfortable time of it,” she said, drawing a 
chair toward me and kissing me affectionately. 
“ She is fuming in the drawing-room, and has 
♦ sent for Cyril to consult with him as to what 
is best to be done in this remarkable crisis.” 

“And you?” I asked beseechingly. “Do you 


76 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


think I have been a scheming, wicked girl, 
and that I have done wrong in accepting the 
earl?” 

“Certainly not, my child. I have known for 
some time that my father wished to make you 
his wife. Indeed, he consulted me as to the 
wisdom of doing so, and I gave my unqualified 
approval to his project. Seeing that he had set his 
heart on having a young wife, I preferred to see 
you in that capacity rather than any one else. 
But I hope that you are fully alive to the duties 
that will be expected of you.” 

“Indeed yes,” I answered soberly. “I mean 
to do all in my power to make the earl happy.” 

“That is right. If you think only of promot- 
ing his happiness, your own will come, as a 
matter of course. But tell me, have you any 
idea that the ceremony is expected to take place 
almost immediately?” 

“Oh no! how can it? I am too young yet to 
marry.” 

“ My dear, in a case like this the bride’s youth 
counts for nothing, and the bridegroom’s age 
carries all other considerations before it. Your 
father also agrees that it is best to make imme- 
diate arrangements, and there is really no reason 
why you should not be married next week.” 

And somehow it was all decided, almost with- 
out referring again to me, that on the following 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


77 


Wednesday I should be transformed into the 
Countess of Greatlands. I have no doubt that 
society partially echoed Belle’s sneers and voted 
the earl half crazy. But if it did, its criticisms 
did not trouble me, and I was supremely happy 
as I reveled in the lavish preparations that were 
being made for the great event. Belle’s wed- 
ding was indefinitely postponed, although it had 
at first been spoken of as an almost immediate 
event. 

So far as I could judge, Lord Egreville was 
as bitterly opposed to the earl’s w'edding as Belle 
was. He was just distantly civil to me, and I 
took no trouble to ingratiate myself with him 
Sometimes, when the couple sat whispering in a 
corner, I surprised an occasional glance that was 
positively malignant in its intensity of hatred. 
Once or twice I remembered my sister’s asser- 
tion that she would prevent my marriage, and 
wondered vaguely if she w’ere really hatching 
some plot against me. ^iThen a certainty that it 
was out of her power to harm me consoled me 
once more, and I pursued the happy tenor of my 
way, all my time occupied either by the earl’s 
visits or by my initiation into further gayeties 
of attire. 

The wedding itself was to be a very quiet 
affair, and as soon as if was over my husband 
was going to take me into Derbyshire for a 


78 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


week. Then we were to go to the castle, which 
was being rapidly prepared for iny reception. 

And so the time flew on, until Tuesday came 
round once more. To-morrow was to be my 
wedding day. 

To-morrow! Oh, that dreadful to-morrow! 
Shall I ever forget it as long as I live? 


CHAPTER IV. 

“ There will be no wedding to-day.” 

That night I went to bed hoping to the last 
that Belle would relent and say a kindly word 
to me. For after all, she was the only sister I 
had, and I would have been thankful to have 
been reconciled with her. But she was as im- 
placable as ever, and never uttered one kindly 
word to me amid all the congratulations of 
others; although Lady Elizabeth had, I know, 
remonstrated with her on her unsisterly be- 
havior. My father did not care to interfere in 
the matter, especially as his sj^mpathies were 
all in favor ci his eldest daughter. 

I was up betimes, for we were to be at the 
church at ten o’clock. I had been sorely exer- 
cised about the choice of a wedding dress, as I 
feared that white would make me look more 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


79 


hideous than usual. But Lady Elizabeth had 
persuaded me to have a creamy satin, and, 
somehow, as I surveyed myself in the glass, I 
was not quite so dissatisfied with the result as 
I had expected to be. The freckles had found 
the London atmosphere uncongenial, and had 
departed, I fervently hoped forever. My com- 
plexion too had changed from a muddy hue to 
a clear dark olive which, though far from being 
satisfactory, was a considerable improvement 
on its former condition. My hair, tjianks to the 
skillful treatment of Lady Elizabeth’s maid, 
had grown much thicker, and looked rather 
nice than otherwise. 

But, in spite of these improvements, I was 
still an ugly, insignificant-looking slip of a girl, 
and I lost myself in wonderment at the thought 
of such great good fortune coming to me. There 
were to be no bridemaids, only a few personal 
friends having been invited to church, though 
there was to be a reception at the house after- 
ward. Belle had at first declared her intention 
of refusing to accompany us to church. But 
perhaps the thought that she would, by holding 
herself aloof, betray to the world at large how 
deeply chagrined she was, induced her to alter 
her mind. 

Still, when I saw her in the hall, just before 
we started, I could not account for her unusual 


80 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

appearance. She was positively livid, and shook 
every now and then in the strangest manner. 
Both my father and Lady Elizabeth conceived 
the idea that she must be ill, but she assured 
them that there was nothing the matter with her. 

“But of course one feels a little excited at see- 
ing one’s sister so suddenly raised to splendor,” 
she said, with a side glance at me which dis- 
played so curious a mixture of fear and hatred 
that I lost all my good spirits, and was driven 
to church in an unaccountable state of nervous- 
ness and trepidation, which was increased when 
I saw that the bridegroom and Lord Egreville, 
who was to officiate as best man, were not here 
first, according to arrangement. 

“I am surprised they are not here yet,” whis- 
pered Lady Elizabeth. “Never mind, dear, they 
are sure to come soon.” 

So I thought, too. But for the life of me I 
could not hinder the tears which came to ease 
my head and my heart, both of which were in a 
state of painful tension. By-and-by, I looked 
up to see Belle’s eyes fixed upon me once more. 
But what had wrought a change in her again? 
Her expression was no longer one of fear, but of 
victory. The hatred was there yet, and that 
did not surprise me. But how to account for the 
unmistakable triumph which I had seen mani- 
fest itself on her face for a moment? 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


81 


Like a flask her words recurred to me: “I 
tell you, it shall not be! I will not have it! 
Sooner than endure such a humiliation I 
would— ” 

Ah ! what would she do? What had she 
done? I asked myself anxiously. Something 
decisive. Something disastrous to me, I knew, 
or her face would not have worn that momen- 
tary impress of a purpose accomplished. Some- 
how, through all the weary waiting that fol- 
lowed, my powers of observation and deduction 
seemed strung to their highest pitch. I noticed 
that as the moments dragged on without bring- 
ing the two gentlemen, Lady Elizabeth and my 
father grew momentarily more anxious. And I 
also noticed that Pelle no longer looked expec- 
tantly toward the door, as every one else kept 
doing, but that she bore all the appearance of 
one whose desires were accomplished. 

At last, unable to bear the suspense any 
longer, my father rose from his seat, and, whis- 
pering to Lady Elizabeth that he was going to 
the earl’s temporary town residence, to ascertain 
the cause of the strange delay, he left the church 
without further preamble, my acutely attuned 
ears shortly afterward hearing the rattling of 
his cab- wheels down the street. 

Lady Elizabeth, who sat next to me, put a 
caressing hand upon my own, and whispered; 


82 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Do not look so frightened, child. I do not 
suppose they will be long in coming now.” 

“They will never come!” was my reply, in- 
tended only for my comforter’s ears. “They 
will never come ! Something dreadful has hap- 
pened, and Belle knows it. See how calm and 
self-satisfied she is now. Remember the state 
she was in before she came. She vowed that 
my marriage should not take place. She has 
made her vow come true!” 

Lady Elizabeth cast a startled glance at Belle, 
but had no time to comment upon my words, 
for at this moment we heard an excited hubbub 
near the door, and Marvel, the earl’s valet, came 
down the aisle with a face which advertised bad 
news. 

“Will your ladyship please leave the church 
as quickly as you can?” he said to my step- 
mother. “And take the bride with you. There 
will be no wedding to-day .” 

“For God’s sake, tell me what is the matter!” 
she exclaimed. “Something dreadful has hap- 
pened to my father!” 

“An accident has occurred to him,” said 
Marvel, with an attempt to speak as if it were 
nothing serious. But his voice broke in the 
endeavor, and he sobbed forth: “Oh, my poor 
master! it is too dreadful!” 

“What is the matter with him?” cried Lady 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


83 


Elizabeth, fairly shaking the man in the inten- 
sity of her excitement and dread. “Tell me at 
once.” 

When I heard Marvel’s reply, I neither 
shrieked nor fainted. For I had felt sure that 
he would say what he did. 

“He is dead!” he said, and my eyes, flaming 
and accusing now, at once sought Belle’s, flash- 
ing my conviction of her guilt in her face. 
Under that glance she reeled as if from a blow. 

I hardly know what else happened that morn- 
ing. I went home as in a dream, feeling some- 
how more sorry for Lady Elizabeth than for 
myself, and wondering if they would hang Belle 
when it was discovered that she had murdered 
the earl; for my mind refused to disabuse itself 
of a - conviction of her guilt, although reason 
pointed to the conclusion that it was impossible 
for her to have injured the earl, seeing that she 
had not seen him, or spoken to him, for twenty 
hours. 

The wedding guests returned to their own 
homes, there to discuss tile sensational interrup- 
tion to what some of them had voted the most 
sensational wedding of the season. My father 
reached home soon after we did, and confirmed 
Marvel’s story in every detail. The Earl of 
Greatlands had been found by Marvel, who had 
grown alarmed when he did not rise at eight 


84 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


o’clock, lying in ghastly rigidity in the bed 
which he had sought some hours earlier in ap- 
parently unusually buoyant health and spirits. 
A glance convinced Marvel that life was quite 
extinct, and a moment later he was rousing the 
household with shouts and cries. Of course 
everybody came rushing up to the earl’s room. 
And of course several doctors were summoned 
at once. But it was only too patent from the 
very first that there was no hope, and though 
there was much loud lamentation on the part of 
the servants, and quite a touching display of 
sorrow on the part of Lord Egreville, or, rather, 
the new Earl of Greatlands, it was not of the 
slightest avail, and. the fiat speedily went forth 
to the world that Lionel, ninth Earl of Great- 
lands, being in an unusually excited state, owing 
to his prospective marriage, had succumbed to 
unsuspected heart disease. 

Nearly all the world accepted this explanation 
of the tragic event which had, at one blow, 
deprived me of husband, wealth, title, position 
and influence, and had converted Lord Egreville 
into the peer he longed to be. 

But not for one moment did I believe that the 
doctors had given anything like a true diagnosis 
of the cause of the late earl’s death. There is a 
fashion in everything, even in matters of life 
and death, and nowadays it seems to be an epi- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


85 


demical fashion with medical men to ascribe 
every sudden death of which they do not under- 
stand the cause to unsuspected heart disease. 
The explanation is plausible, and, in all likeli- 
hood, more often than not correct, although 
there is a strong element of guess-work about it. 
Post mortem examinations are horrible and un- 
pleasant contingencies to contemplate, and the 
feelings of relatives and friends are apt to be 
cruelly wounded by the bare mention of such a 
dernier resort. 

Of course it would have been extremely pain- 
ful for all parties concerned if an inquest over 
the remains of the Earl of Greatlands had been 
suggested; but I never doubted for one instant 
that such a course would have resulted in the 
discovery of foul play, such as only I — and one 
other, as subsequent events proved — suspected. 

Suspected! do I say? It was no mere sus- 
picion with me. It was a firm and rooted con- 
viction, that nothing but absolute proof to the 
contrary could ever dispel. And that proof, 
since no one broached the advisability of an 
inquest, was not likely to be afforded me. No 
doubt there was considerable marvel in some 
people’s minds concerning my manner of bear- 
ing the sudden reverse of fortune which had be- 
fallen me, but their opinion troubled me little, 
and it was not likely that I would occupy the 


86 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


minds of sensation-mongers long after I had 
been relegated to my former status of insignifi- 
cant obscurity. Tears did not often come to 
relieve the aching weight which oppressed me, 
as I pondered in what perhaps struck those who 
were unable to gauge my real feelings as a hard 
and defiant mood.. 

How could they tell, however, that the grief I 
felt for the loss of the man who had loved me 
outweighed my regret for my lost glories, since 
I let very few words of sorrow escape me? In- 
deed, I dared not indulge in comments with any 
one, for I feared lest the horror and loathing 
which I now felt for my sister and her fiance 
should break the bounds in which I had resolved 
for the time being to entrammel them, and over- 
flow in a torrent of bitter denunciation and in- 
vective. I should imagine that there are few girls 
of stronger passions for love or for hatred than 
myself, and I sometimes caught myself wondering 
how I managed to refrain from publicly denounc- 
ing those whom I firmly believed to be the delib- 
erate murderers of my dear old earl; for I hated 
them with a hatred that was consuming in its 
wild intensity. Yes, my hatred was of fearful 
force. But I was swayed by an even stronger 
passion, which held it at bay. 

This was my love for Lady Elizabeth, the 
first being who, since my mother died, had 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


87 


opened her heart to me, and who was now 1 pros- 
trated by a nervous attack, due to grief at the 
loss of her father, between whom and herself 
the strongest sympathy had always existed. She 
had of late admitted me largely into her confi- 
dence, and I had gained so much knowledge of 
her nature that I knew what a bitter blow such 
family disgrace would be to her as would over- 
take us all were my convictions shared by others. 
For my father’s sake I would not have repressed 
my wild longing for vengeance. For Lady 
Elizabeth’s sake I could have submitted to make 
an even greater sacrifice. 

But even my great love k for her could not in- 
duce me to hold friendly intercourse with Belle, 
or to withhold the fierce glances of accusation 
under which the new Earl of Greatlands writhed 
in impotent rage. He saw that I suspected evil- 
doing of some sort on his part, and he resented 
my glances at first by frowns of defiance. But 
somehow, when I continued to maintain stead- 
fastly the antagonistic attitude I had assumed, 
he grew manifestly uneasy, and even went so 
far as to presume to address words of sympathy 
to me, which implied that he imagined me to 
cherish animosity against him merely because 
he was occupying the place of the man who was 
to have been my husband, and suggested that 
he hoped I would no longer hold aloof from him 


88 /dventures op an ugly girl. 

and Belle as if I thought they had done me an 
injury. 

To this misjudged attempt to induce me to 
bury the hatchet I vouchsafed no response but 
a cold stare of contempt and a curl of the lip 
which spoke volumes. Indeed, so potent was 
this mute answer of mine that the earl almost 
ceased to visit our house, and my father was in- 
formed by Belle that my violence and ill man- 
ners had succeeded in depriving her to a great 
extent of her lover’s society. 

“ Dora,” said my affectionate parent to me one 
morning after breakfast, “ I am sorry to observe 
that you have lapsed into your former ill-condi- 
tioned state of selfish ill-breeding. I have made 
all due allowance for the disappointment you 
must have felt at being prevented from becom- 
ing the great lady you expected to be. But I 
have noticed with growing displeasure that you 
are venting your spleen in an unjustifiable man- 
ner upon Belle. Certainly, she is going to occu- 
py the position you thought would be yours, but 
she is doing you no personal injury thereby, for 
your chances are irrevocably gone, and she was. 
engaged to the present Earl of Greatlands before 
the marriage between yourself and his father 
was arranged. It is therefore abominable that 
you should try to make her life miserable by 
driving her lover from the house, and doing 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 89 

your best to produce an estrangement between 
them; and if you continue your present be- 
havior, I shall insist upon your going to live at 
the Grange until we are ready to leave London.' 

Lady Elizabeth was too ill to come down- 
stairs, and was, therefore, not present during 
this harangue. Otherwise it would probably 
not have been made; for, even in things that 
wholly and solely concerned me, my father was 
wont to show that consideration for his wife, 
who loved me, that he would never have dis- 
played toward me for my own sake, and he 
treated me with tolerable politeness when in her 
presence. But when she was not there, he 
showed the same unbounded partiality for Belle 
and the same lack of sympathy for me which 
had always distinguished our intercourse in the 
past ; and it is not surprising that my lately ac- 
quired self-reliance prompted me to retort that 
I was best aware of the motives of my conduct, 
and that Belle was not likely to lose her lover 
through me, since their destiny would hence- 
forth be ruled by the promptings of an evil 
conscience. 

“You miserable little wretch !” exclaimed my 
father. “How dare you speak to me in that 
tone? And how dare you cast innuendoes 
against Belle and Cyril which virtually amount 
to an accusation?” 


90 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“ An accusation of what, sir?” I asked, with 
a calm deliberateness which surprised even my- 
self, and caused my father to stagger as if he 
had received a blow. And, indeed, he had re- 
ceived such a blow as is to be hoped falls to the 
lot of few fathers. For my looks and manner, 
more than my words, had struck him with the 
sudden conviction that his favorite child was sus- 
pected of having at least been accessory to a mor- 
tal crime. That the suspicion emanated from the 
brain of another of his children mattered little 
to him, for he already disliked me too intensely 
to feel any heart-pangs on my account. It was 
quite sufficient, however, to cause him to cast 
aside the last shred of conventionality as re- 
garded his treatment of myself. 

What transpired during the next five minutes 
I prefer not to relate. There are events in the 
lifetime of most people which possess either too 
sacred or too painful an interest for discussion 
with others. The memory of my last interview 
with my father awakes in me no emotion but 
that of resentment at the constant injustice with 
which he had alwaj^s treated me, and which cul- 
minated on this occasion in my expulsion from 
his house. 

Perhaps he thought that I would not take him 
at his word, and that at the end of the hour 
which he had named as the limit of time he 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


91 


would allow me in which to pack up my be- 
longings and rid my family of my presence, I 
would weepingly sue for mercy and promise to 
be polite and conciliatory to Belle and the Earl 
of Greatlands. The mere supposition that I, 
whose passions were of the strongest, could thus 
do violence to my feelings, and acknowledge the 
superiority of two people whom I hated and de- 
spised with all my heart, for the sake of retain- 
ing a home in which I could never hope to be 
happy again, still serves to excite my indigna- 
tion and to provoke me to a feeling of resent- 
ment which I would fain repudiate in my 
calmer moments. 

For, after all, my father, poor man, was 
blinded by his partiality for Belle; and although 
he fully grasped the deadly import of my un- 
spoken suspicions, he never for a moment 
doubted his beautiful darling’s goodness, but 
accepted my attitude merely as a convincing 
proof of the monstrosity of nature of one to 
whom had been denied that outward fairness 
which in his eyes was equal to the strongest 
proof of inward purity. Thus I sometimes 
reason, in attempted palliation of his harsh- 
ness to me. But, somehow, my reasoning has 
an awkward knack of doubling upon itself and 
transforming my would-be kindlier leanings into 
the old imbittered resentment. 


92 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


My preparations for departure were soon 
made, although as yet my brain was in too 
great a turmoil to permit me to make a definite 
plan for my future guidance. I must remove 
myself and my belongings quickly. And I 
must take my leave of Lady Elizabeth with- 
out permitting her to be pained by a knowl- 
edge of the permanent nature of the estrange- 
ment between myself and my family. The 
latter was a difficult feat for me to perform. 
But I succeeded in going through the inter- 
view in a manner which it pleased me to recall 
during my subsequent sufferings; for my dear 
stepmother was spared the pain which would 
have been hers, if she had realized the anguish 
of mind which my love for her caused me to 
hide. 

I found her in her dressing-room, reclining 
on a couch which was drawn up to the fire, 
the day being somewhat chilty for the time of 
year. I noted with a sudden foreboding dread 
the change which the last few weeks had 
wrought in Lady Elizabeth’s appearance. She 
was paler, thinner, and altogether much more 
fragile-looking than when, so short a time ago, 
she had assisted me to select the trousseau for 
my own marriage with her father. There was, 
however, a light in her eyes which had, until 
lately, been a stranger to them, and which had 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


93 


caused me considerable uneasiness. For it gave 
me the impression that it had its origin in a feel- 
ing deeper even than the grief which an affec- 
tionate daughter would naturally feel at the loss 
of a beloved parent. 

Could it be that — oh, no! perish the thought! 
Why should she be tortured by such suspicions 
as had fixed their scorpion-fangs in my brain? 
She could scarcely be so fully convinced of 
Belle’s capacity for evil as I was, since she 
had never known her until the glamour of her 
artfulness and beauty was such as to cause near- 
ly every one who knew her to take a fancy to 
her. Nor had she such deep reason to distrust 
one of her own mother’s children as was the 
case with me. Some hidden sorrow was sap- 
ping her life’s strength. But I fervently and 
sincerely prayed that it might not be the hid- 
eous phantom of suspicion which was bidding 
fair to wreck my own life. 

“I have come to say good-by for a time,” I 
said, speaking with wonderful quietness for one 
whose brain was in a whirl of stormy emotion. 
“As you know, things are not as pleasant as 
they might be between Belle and myself, and 
father and I have agreed that it will be best for 
me to return to the Grange for a while. The 
change will do me good, but I shall be grieved 
to part from you.” 


94 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“But, my dear, we are all going to the Grange 
shortly,’ ’ said Lady Elizabeth, casting upon me 
a look of anxious scrutiny. “Come here. Kneel 
beside me, and tell me all about this sudden 
arrangement. Have Belle and you been quar- 
reling?” 

“Belle and I have not been quarreling,” I 
answered, as I dropped on my knees beside the 
only woman in the world who loved me, and 
stroked her white hand between my much less 
shapely ones. “But you may have noticed that, 
whether rightly or wrongly, I cannot feel happy 
in her presence. The earl, 3mm* brother, too, 
seems to be kept away from the house through 
the antagonism which he and I feel for each 
other. I feel as if it were wicked to dislike any 
one nearly related, to you. But, indeed, I cannot 
help it. So you must forgive me, and let .me go 
from you now with nothing but the kindest and 
most loving words from you; for, believe me, I 
am more sorely in need of your sympathy than 
ever I was, and could not bear to think of an 
estrangement between you and me.” 

“Dorrie, I have learned to love you, and I 
know that you are not likely to form violent 
antipathies without a cause. I also feel con- 
vinced that your treatment of — of — my brother 
is dictated by the strongest feeling on yc>ur part. 
The nature of that feeling must remain unknown 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


95 


to me, for I dread confirmation of certain 
thoughts which fill my days and nights with 
terror. Even should you prove to be actually 
unjust to my brother, it will make no difference 
between us. But, if you are really leaving town 
before the rest of us do, you must promise me 
one thing.” 

“I will promise anything to you.” 

“I know your willingness to serve me, and I 
think I can gauge your love for me, but I am 
about to exact a great proof of both. Listen. 
All my life I have yielded to the dictates of 
family pride. I have been proud of my ancient 
lineage and unsullied family escutcheon; so 
proud, indeed, that I did not hesitate to ally 
myself with one who had once been one of the 
humblest sons of the people. I never dreamed 
of the possibility of my being lowered to his 
family level by marrying him, but was sure that 
the prestige of my own connections would over- 
shadow the possible vulgarity of his antecedents. 
In marrying a wealthy commoner, of whose per- 
sonal worthiness I felt thoroughly convinced, I 
hoped to be able to assist my family to a financial 
position more commensurate with their social 
status than the aristocratic impecuniosity which 
had been our lot for many years, owing to the 
extravagance of my grandfather, who had mort- 
gaged the greater part of the estate. My expec- 


96 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

tations were fully justified. My husband was 
kind and generous, and whatever my original 
feelings toward him. may have been, I can truth- 
fully say that his upright nature won my com- 
plete loyalty and. respect. I was certainly dis- 
appointed to find myself comparatively poor 
after his death. But I have had time to think 
the matter over since then, and believe that the 
people to whom he left the bulk of his money 
must have needed it more than I did. I see 
that you wonder why I am telling you all this. 
I assure you I have a strong enough motive, 
for I want you to realize that I would sacrifice 
everything to the honor of my family — love, 
happiness, even life itself. This being the case, 
can you picture how terrible it would be to me 
to see even the shadow of public disgrace fall 
upon our name? That you have ample provoca- 
tion for a certain course of conduct which would 
materially affect the interests of my brother, 
and of your sister, I know. I also know that 
you return the love I bear you. Let that love 
outweigh the resentment you feel at the conduct 
of others. If you are not inclined to spare them> 
for God’s sake spare me the anguish which a 
disclosure of your — of your suspicions would 
cause me! You are leaving us for a time. I 
implore you to have mercy upon, an ancient 


name. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


97 


By the time Lady Elizabeth had got thus far, 
she was sobbing in uncontrollable excitement, 
and clung to me with convulsive apprehension. 
As for me, I was filled with grief at this dis- 
closure of the suffering which my dear one was 
undergoing. I could no longer doubt that she 
shared all my own painful suspicions, and that 
to her distressed state of mind her recent physi- 
cal prostration was attributable. And I was 
stabbed by the remorseful thought that I had 
been the one to originate the dread suspicions 
which were doing so much mischief. Was it 
too late to undo the mischief? Could I hope to 
remove the terrible burden of dread which op- 
pressed Lady Elizabeth? It was doubtful. But 
there was too much at stake to warrant hesita- 
tion on my part, and my course of conduct was 
instantaneously mapped out. 

“Mother,” I said, as quietly as my emotion 
would permit, “I cannot pretend not to under- 
stand the meaning of what you have just said. 
But, oh ! dear, how could you think I meant 
all that I implied to you on that terrible morn- 
ing, when I was beside myself with anxiety and 
grief ? Put away such thoughts from your 
mind. It is the misfortune, not the fault, of 
Cyril and Belle, that all the circumstances at- 
tending recent events have seemed as if specially 
guided for their interests. But if even I, who 


98 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


am so great a loser by their advancement, can 
say that my first suspicions were unjustifiable 
and wicked, surely you can no longer think them 
capable of a crime too atrocious for even ready- 
dyed criminals to think of.” 

Lady Elizabeth suddenly raised, her head and 
literally gasped with mingled relief and amaze- 
ment. 

“Is it possible,” she cried, “that I have been 
tormenting myself needlessly? That I have 
foully wronged Cyril and Belle? That I have 
mistaken your dislike to them for a stronger 
sentiment — that of a thirst for justifiable re- 
venge for a deadly injury?” 

“Quite possible. Think. Our dear old earl 
could not have been expected to live very much 
longer. He was happy. So happy, that he 
was naturally excited. Excitement is not good 
for weakly old people, and the skillful doctors 
who were summoned were sure to be able to 
judge of the real cause of death. You cannot 
tell how much I regret having given audible ex- 
pression to a cruel suspicion. But you can do 
as I have done — and repudiate it.” 

“Do you repudiate it?” 

“Most certainly I do.” 

“Thank God for that! You have lifted a 
nightmare from my mind. Do you know that 
the promise I wished to exact from you was that 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


99 


you would at least spare uie the suffering which 
a denunciation of my brother Cyril would cause 
me?” 

“A denunciation ! Ah, well— I don’t like 
him. I never shall like him. But as there is 
nothing to denounce, I can safely promise you, 
nay, swear to you, that never, so long as you 
live, will I, by word or deed, do aught that can 
injure any member of your family or in any 
way jeopardize its good name.” 

“You swear this?” 

“I swear it!” 

“You have given me a new lease of life, my 
darling, and by the time we join you at the 
Grange you will see me almost as vigorous as 
ever.” 

“I hope so. But I must be off now, or I shall 
not be ready when the cab comes round for me. 
Good-by.” 

“Good-by, my dear. I hope the change will do 
you good. You too have been drooping lately.” 

“I suppose I have. But country air will work 
wonders, eh?” 

Another minute, and I had hurried out of 
Lady Elizabeth’s room, with breaking heart and 
whirling brain. Should I ever see her again? 
To what had I pledged myself? I had, for her 
sake, forsworn all my dreams of punishing those 
whom I firmly believed to be the murderers of 


100 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


the Earl of Greatlands. Certainly, I had never 
intended to invoke the vengeance of the law 
upon them, for I also had some regard to the 
maintenance of the esteem in which the two 
families were held by the world at large. But I 
had meant to elucidate, by some means, the ex- 
tent of their culpability, and to show them up to 
their relatives in all their hideous criminality, 
leaving them to continue their career stripped 
of the misplaced love and confidence that had 
hitherto been so charily bestowed upon me. 

Surely this was but a feeble ideal of the pun- 
ishment due to a great crime which had deprived 
me of everything that made my life worth liv- 
ing. But I was now bereft of even this small 
satisfaction, for I had, for the sake of Lady 
Elizabeth, pledged myself to do nothing that 
would reflect discredit upon her family. I had 
even gone so far as to repudiate all my sus- 
picions, and so long as she lived I must do 
nothing to re-awaken the terrors which had 
been tormenting her of late. 

Does any one doubt that I found this sacrifice 
of my personal inclinations very hard to bear? 
or that it was not a real sacrifice to leave my 
enemies to gloat unrestrainedly at the success 
of their evil plotting? Or do they imagine that 
the feelings I harbored were unjustifiable? If 
so, let them imagine themselves in my position. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


101 


Let them picture all that I had lost and suffered, 
and contrast my lot with what would have been 
my condition had the earl’s life not terminated 
when it did. True, I had as yet not the slight- 
est practical evidence to support my opinion of 
the culpability of the new earl and his fiancee ; 
but as my personal conviction never admitted 
the slightest doubt on that score, I found its 
virtual abandonment all the harder to bear, 
though nothing would now make me disregard 
Lady Elizabeth’s wishes. And this I mention, 
not for the sake, of demonstrating my powers of 
self-sacrifice, but to show how gratefully I re- 
ciprocated the kindness of my stepmother, and 
to show how my heart hungered for love, since 
the lavishment of a little of it upon me had 
power to arouse in me a feeling so passionate 
as to be almost akin to worship. 

And now I was about to leave, probably for- 
ever, the one being who cared for me. Small 
wonder that the hard feelings which had hith- 
erto enabled me to keep my composure should 
break down, and that the quick tears of utter 
lonesomeness should chase each other down my 
pale cheeks as I hurriedly gathered my belong- 
ings together, and began to pack them in the 
substantial trunks which had been provided by 
Lady Elizabeth to hold the trousseau with which 
her loving liberality had provided me. 


102 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

“Excuse me, Miss Dora, -but my lady has 
sent me to see if I can be of any use to you. 
You are packing everything up? Then pray let 
me do it for you.” 

I looked up through my tears, and saw Agnes, 
my stepmothr’s maid, standing ready to relieve 
me of my task. She was in such evident sym- 
pathy with me that at sight of her kindly face 
my last shred of composure left me, and I wept 
in such an abandonment of grief as only a feel- 
ing of utter desolation can produce. Agnes was 
frightened at the violence of my emotion and 
did her best to console me. But I presently be- 
came calmer, and thanking her for the trouble 
she was taking, gladly availed myself of her 
help in packing my boxes. * I felt no hesitation 
in taking everything that belonged to me, for 
all I had worth having was due to the generos- 
ity of Lady Elizabeth or of her father. To my 
own father I owed nothing of which I was now 
possessed, the last item of the unbecoming gar- 
ments which he had so grudgingly bestowed 
upon me having disappeared long ago. 

In another half an hour I was ready to go, 
and a few moments later the cab for which I 
had sent was at the door. As I stepped into it 
I glanced at the upper windows of the house 
which was no longer a home for me. I saw 
Lady Elizabeth, who had come to her window 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 103 

to wav© me a smiling good-by. Evidently no 
one had yet told her that I was permanently 
banished from my father’s house. I smiled and 
kissed my hand to her, resolved that her last 
glimpse of me should be as pleasant as possible. 
Then my eyes sought the level of the drawing- 
room windows, to see — what? My sister stand- 
ing there by the side of the Earl of Greatlands, 
both of them displaying the greatest delight at 
my departure, and both of them casting con- 
temptuous glances of triumph oil a poor, home- 
less girl whose presence near them was a con- 
tinual reproach. 

But their malevolence did not get all the satis- 
faction it sought, for my glance wandered swiftly 
upward again, and rested on my stepmother’s 
smiling face, until I was driven out of sight al- 
together, with such apparent unconsciousness of 
their presence that they could not know I had 
seen them. And thus I entered upon the battle 
of life on my own account. 


CHAPTER Y. 

“A maiden’s fancies.” 


In spite of the turmoil of mind under which I 
had labored since my interview with my father, 


104 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

I had already formed somewhat definite plans 
for my future. 

I had made all my arrangements as if I were 
really going to the Grange, and had had my 
boxes labeled accordingly. Thus Lady Eliza- 
beth had not alarmed herself about me, knowing 
that my comfort would be looked after at the 
Grange. My father, if he had taken the trouble 
to make any . inquiries about me, would also 
think he knew whither I was bound ; and, even 
if visited by a faint feeling of compunction on 
my behalf, would consider that I was as well off 
in one place as in another. 

But since he had ordered me from his house, 
I meant to take him literally at his word, and 
had resolved never to cast my shadow within 
any threshold of his again. I was but ill equip- 
ped for earning my livelihood, but I had a cer- 
tain determination of purpose at whose bidding 
I was prepared to cast aside all false pride, such 
as might possibly throw obstacles in the way of 
my progress. Thus I realized that it might 
become necessary for me to adopt a means of 
living perfectly honest and honorable in itself, 
but which had hitherto never entered into the 
calculations of a Courtney. 

Circumstances had precluded my having many 
friends to whom I could turn in my present 
need. But I felt that I could rely upon the vicar 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


105 


of Moorbye and his kindly wife. Both the Rev. 
Horace Garth and Mrs. Garth had always shown 
some interest in me and in my doings, and they 
were among the few people who seemed to be 
uninfluenced by the physical disadvantages 
which were such a sore source of trouble to me. 
It was to the Moorbye vicarage, therefore, that 
I resorted for aid and counsel in this my great 
extremity. I felt some trepidation as I was 
swiftly whirled along in the second-class com- 
partment, for which a sense of the necessity of 
economizing the money I had at my disposal had 
induced me to take a ticket. As to what kind 
of traveling companions I had, it is impossible 
for me to say, for I was too much engrossed with 
my troubles to take notice of my surroundings. 

“Will the Garths welcome me, and do their 
best for me; or will, they consider me to blame, 
and wash their hands of me?” 

This was the question that was uppermost in 
my mind, and I could scarcely refrain from put- 
ting it into so many words, when, on alighting 
at Moorbye Station, whom should I see but the 
vicar himself welcoming two ladies who had 
evidently traveled from town by the same train 
which had conveyed myself. 

Leaving the porter, who gave me a respectful 
recognition, to see after my luggage. for the pres- 
ent, I hurried up to the vicar and accosted him. 


106 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Mr. Garth, can you give me a moment’s pri- 
vate conversation? If these ladies will kindly 
excuse you, I will not keep you long.” 

“Why, Dorrie! What brings you here just 
now?” Mr. Garth exclaimed, as he, fortified by 
the permission of his friends, walked along the 
platform with me. “And how do you happen 
to be traveling alone?” 

“My father has turned me out of his house. 
Until I can find some means of earning my liv- 
ing, I have no one to whom I can go for counsel 
but yourself. I hoped to have been able to stay 
with you to-night, but I see you already have 
visitors.” 

“Tut, tut, child! As if that mattered. You 
would always be welcome. Now, not a word 
of all this until we can talk the matter over later 
on. Meanwhile, come and be introduced to my 
friends. — Oh, I say, Thompson, see that Miss 
Courtney’s luggage is sent up to the vicarage 
with the rest.— Ah, here we are! Mrs. Mar- 
shall, I am glad to introduce to your notice Miss 
Dora Courtney, who has kindly come to cheer 
her old friends up a bit. Miss May, you will be 
pleased to have a clever companion of your own 
age while you are do^yn here. Dorrie, these are 
old friends and near relatives of ours, Mrs. 
Frank Marshall and Miss May Morris.” 

What wonderful power there is in generous 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


107 


good nature combined with tact ! Five minutes 
before I reached Moorbye Station I was among 
the most miserable upon earth, wondering 
whether even a civil welcome awaited me. Five 
minutes after my arrival I was being bowled 
toward the vicarage in Mrs. Garth’s funny little 
governess car, and was laughing merrily with 
the others at the small space at our individual 
disposal. 

“My dear, I have an unexpected pleasure in 
store for you. Here are our cousins, and here 
is Dora Courtney, also come to favor us with a 
visit. ’ ’ 

Thus said the vicar, on our arrival at his 
home. There was a warm welcome from Mrs. 
Garth, supplemented by a somewhat boisterous 
one from Master Vincent Garth, who betrayed 
great curiosity concerning my outward appear- 
ance. 

“Do come right into the middle of the hall, 
just for one minute,” he demanded, “while we 
have a real good look at you.” 

Quite unconscious of the purport of his impet- 
uosity, I laughingly obeyed him, the rest mean- 
while standing by in indulgent amusement. 
For some seconds the child looked at me gravely. 
Then his face became quickly clouded with dis- 
appointment, and, considerably to the surprise 
of us all, he burst into loud lamentations, of 


108 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

which it was some time before we could gather 
the meaning. 

“We don’t like her any better,” he sobbed. 
“Susie said Miss Dora was to be a grand coun- 
tess, and we’ve looked at her, and she isn’t 
turned grand. She’s just ugly.” 

I believe Mrs. Garth hoped and fancied that I 
had not been able to understand Vinnie’s com- 
ments. But I had not found it very difficult to 
do so, and felt quite as much hurt as if this little 
stab to my vanity had proceeded from a respon- 
sible individual, instead of from an impulsive 
child, though I strove to hide my humiliated 
feelings as much as possible. 

“What a horrid child, ” whispered Miss Morris, 
as we passed up the fine old staircase, in the 
wake of our hostess, on the way to the rooms 
allotted to us. “He ought to be whipped for 
insulting any one like that.” 

For a moment I was tempted to second her 
remark. Then my better nature prevailed, as 
I remembered how frank and generous Vinnie 
really was. 

“I do not blame him,” I answered, somewhat 
soberly, it must be confessed. “ Vinnie was 
only giving way to a natural disappointment, 
and did not dream of hurting my feelings, I am 
sure.” 

“How look at the accommodation I have for 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


109 


you, and tell me if you think it will do,” called 
out Mrs. Garth’s rich voice from a room which 
she and Mrs. Marshall had just entered. “I 
have only two spare bedrooms, which open 
out of this dressing-room,” she continued. “I 
had intended the large room for Madge, and 
the small one for May, but I am afraid I 
must ask two of „ you to use one bedroom 
jointly.” 

“Oh, how delightful!” exclaimed May, who 
was evidently a very impulsive young lady. 
Madge can have the small room, and Dora and 
I will sleep in the other. I may call you Dora, 
mayn’t I? I hate ceremony, and, do you know, 
I have taken quite a fancy to you.” 

Of course all Miss May’s propositions were 
cheerfully acquiesced in, and we were all three 
soon occupied in unpacking our dinner-gowns. 
In the dressing-room a cozy little fire shed its 
comforting rays upon the pretty furniture and 
draperies, and gave an aspect of cheerfulness to 
the place which was by no means reflected in my 
own heart, though I strove to banish all out- 
ward semblance of dejection. 

“Fancy a fire in June!” laughed May,, as she 
insisted I should at once call her. “It strikes a 
Londoner as rather odd; but, do you know, I’m 
not at all sure that it isn’t quite cool down here. 
I gather that you are a native of these parts, 


110 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


Dora. Is it a usual thing to need fires in 
summer?” 

“At the Grange,” I replied, as I fastened the 
dinner-dress which I would rather have been ex- 
cused from wearing this evening, as I was both 
tired and overwrought, and would gladly have 
gone to bed, “at the Grange we seem to need 
fires all the year round in some of the rooms. 
Some parts of the neighborhood are inclined to 
be rather marshy and damp, and as coals are 
cheap about here, nearly everybody keeps the 
chills off in the only possible way.” 

“Good gracious! I hope it isn’t a fever-and- 
ague sort of a neighborhood! What shall we 
do if it is? We are invited down here for a 
month, but if there is any danger in that direc- 
tion, I shall betake myself off again. Fancy 
jerking your limbs first in one direction and 
then in another, and pulling grimaces at people 
just at the very moment when you want to be 
most polite ! It’s too awful to think about, and 
I dare not risk it.” 

“Why, you goose,” exclaimed Mrs. Marshall, 
“ you are mixing up fever-and-ague with an en- 
tirely different complaint, called St. Vitus’s 
Dance. It is a nervous affection, not likely to 
be brought on by a chill.” 

“And,” I added, “I don’t think you need 
alarm yourself about fever-and-ague, either. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. Ill 

None of the Garth household have ever been 
troubled with it, and we have always enjoyed 
the same immunity at the Grange.” 

“ The Grange. That’s where you live, isn’t 
it?” inquired May. “ It sounds quite old-world- 
ish and jolly. I can fancy all sorts of spirits 
and hobgoblins disporting in its interminable 
corridors and secret chambers. What is the 
ghost like? Is it a woman dressed in gray silk, 
and with a heartbroken look on a beautiful face? 
And does she wring her hands, and cry, ‘Woe 
is me ! ’ Or is it a man, looking fierce and 
vengeful, and dragging clanking chains after 
him? They are mostly either one or the other, 
and oh ! I forgot, the woman turns into a cat 
sometimes, and stands mewing over a place 
where there is a buried treasure. Isn’t it de- 
lightful to think of? .Dora, you must take me 
to the Grange, and let me sleep with you one 
night. Then we’ll watch for the ghost, and 
perhaps we may solve the mystery of the treas- 
ure and become rich beyond the wildest dreams 
of avarice. And then I’ll write the ghost’s his- 
tory. Mr. Stoach is great on ghosts lately, but 
our ghost tale will be much better and much 
more thrilling than any he has got hold of. I 
wonder if there are heaps of rubies and pearls 
and diamonds and sapphires among the treasure. 
It always is the case. Oh, won’t they be gor- 


J12 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

geous! Dora, we must go not later than to- 
morrow night! I really cannot bear the sus- 
pense any longer. What do you say?” 

But for a little while I was beyond saying 
anything, for every time I tried to speak a fit 
of laughter prevented the utterance of a single 
intelligible word. Mrs. Marshall, too, though 
she laughed like one who was more familiar 
with Miss May’s flights of fancy and vagaries 
than I was, enjoyed the situation thoroughly. 

“That’s the way with May,” she smiled. 
“You will get used to her by-and-by, no doubt. 
She pictures the wildest things, and accepts the 
freaks of her own imagination as gospel truth.” 

“But,” interrupted May, whose face looked 
comically anxious. “There is a ghost, isn’t 
there? And there is a treasure, isn’t there?” 

“ I’m afraid that the Grange possesses neither 
of those hall-marks of antiquity/’ I responded, 
as gravely as I could. “ At least, I have never 
heard of them.” 

“That’s just it!” cried May, renewed hope 
sparkling in her eyes. “ Perhaps you are rather 
nervous, and they didn’t like to tell you about 
the ghost. But it’s there, all the same. Have 
you never heard it pattering along the deserted 
corridors, or tapping gently against the window 
panes, to attract your attention, or sighing 
mournfully through the keyhole, or—” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


113 


“May, do be less absurd,” pleaded Mrs. Mar- 
shall. “You will not be ready to go down with 
us to dinner if you do not hurry up, instead of 
standing chattering about rubbish.” 

“Rubbish, indeed! Ghosts are not rubbish. 
Treasure is not rubbish. I wish I had some of 
the latter now, so that I could have a maid to 
dress me. Dora, you must, you really must, let 
us make a start at solving the mystery to-mor- 
row.” 

“But there is no mystery.” 

“That remains to be seen. At any rate, you 
will take me to the Grange to-morrow, will you 
not?” 

I was glad that just at this moment we were 
summoned to dinner, as May’s persistence about 
visiting the Grange worried me a little, and I 
did not want to commit myself in any way until 
I had had the private talk with Mr. Garth that 
had been agreed upon. So “We will see about 
it” was all the reply oh the subject which May 
received just then. But it satisfied her for the 
time being, for she immediately went off into 
ecstasies of thanks and speculation, which bub- 
bled over even after we had sat down to dinner. 

“What do you think?” she exclaimed to Mr. 
and Mrs. Garth. “I’m in for no end of adven- 
ture. Dora has promised to take me to the 
Grange, to exorcise the ghost and recover the 


114 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


buried treasure. And we’re going to spend our 
wealth abroad. We shall wear our diamonds at 
the foreign courts, and I intend to marry noth- 
ing under a duke. And my children will be 
princes, and perhaps — Good gracious! who’s 
the next heir to the throne of Germany?” 

By this time the whole company was convulsed 
with laughter, which Miss May did not seem to 
appreciate; for she froze up immediately, cast a 
withering look of scorn at the callousty inappre- 
ciative company, and spoke not another word for 
at least two minutes, at the end of which time 
her tongue was languishing for exercise. 

“And how did you leave Lady Elizabeth?” 
inquired Mrs. Garth, during this momentary 
break in the conversation. 

“I do not like her present condition at all,” 
was my reply. “She has fretted a good deal 
ever — ever since the earl died.” 

It cost me much to utter these words quietly, 
for the mere thought of my poor old lover’s 
mysterious death always moved me to sudden 
anger. 

“But surely she is not fretting herself ill?” 
said Mr. Garth, in some surprise. “We know 
that she was much attached to her father; but, 
after all, he was really old, and she has many 
compensating blessings, if I am not mistaken.” 

“You are not mistaken,” was my answer. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 115 

“But Lady Elizabeth’s grief is not selfish or un- 
reasonable, though it may be incomprehensible 
to all but herself and me.” 

“Then you think you understand fully why 
she is allowing it to prey on her health?” 

“God help me, yes!” I cried passionately. 
“ Why do you torture me like this? Cannot you 
understand that the whole subject is too bitter 
for me to talk of more than can be helped?” 

“Poor child!” exclaimed Mrs. Garth peni- 
tently. “Of course it is. I ought to have 
known.” 

“No, no, I am the one to blame. How can 
you possibly know all that occupies my mind? 
Forgive my hasty words, they were foolish and 
unwarrantable. ’ ’ 

Mrs. Garth protested against this last asser- 
tion of mine, but I need hardly remark that our 
party was not quite so cheerful as it had been, 
and that we were all somewhat relieved when it 
was time to adjourn to the drawing-room. 

“Dome,” said Mr. Garth, “can you spare 
me a few moments before we join the others?” 

“Certainly.” 

“Then we will have a chat in my study.” 

And to Mr. Garth’s study we went. Here, 
so far as it was advisable for me to do, I con- 
fided the details of my history and perplexities 


116 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


to my host, who listened with the greatest atten- 
tion to all I had to tell him. 

“Do you think I am much to blame?” I asked 
at last. 

“I cannot think that you have much to re- 
proach yourself with, as, though somewhat im- 
pulsive at times, I believe you to be very fair 
and just. But, to be candid, I do not quite 
realize the necessity for all this extreme feeling. 
That, I suppose, is because I do not know all 
the workings of the case. Is that so?” 

“You are quite right. But I cannot be more 
explicit than I have been. I have no right to 
press the subject further on any one’s notice. 
But I can assure you honestly that I have done 
nothing of which I need be ashamed, and that it 
would be utterly impossible for me to live in the 
same house with my sister again. Not that she 
need be blamed much, either. But we seem to 
be naturally antagonistic to each other and are 
best apart.” 

“But what will you do with yourself, child? 
That you should earn your own living has never 
been contemplated for you, and you are conse- 
quently handicapped at every point.” 

“I am not afraid of work. Teaching is not 
much in my line. I believe I can play the fiddle 
sufficiently well to perform at an occasional con- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


117 


cert, but that would not do much toward keep- 
ing me.” 

“You might teach the violin — ” 

“Oh, dear no. I am afraid I should find my- 
self rapping the knuckles of my pupils if they 
should turn out extra stupid. That wouldn’t do 
at all. I could go out as amanuensis, or com- 
panion, or something of that sort; for I write 
a neat hand, have more than a smattering of 
French and German, and am A1 at making 
Everton taffy and pickled cabbage.” 

“Two very indispensable acquisitions for an 
amanuensis ! Still, your other qualifications 
might fetch somebody. What do you say if we 
advertise? Would you mind going abroad?” 

“Just what I would be best pleased to do at 
present.” 

“Now about Mrs. Marshall and Miss Morris. 
It will be necessary to tell them something — ” 

“We will just tell them that I have had a deal 
of trouble, that I wish to turn my back on the 
scenes of my trouble for a time, and that while 
away from home I have a fancy for earning my 
own living. Such part of my troubles as are 
already public property you may of course con- 
fide to them.” 

“Then things are settled so far. I will see 
about the advertisement being sent off for you, 
and you must understand that we are by no 


118 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

means in a hurry to get rid of you. You will 
be more than welcome to stay here until you find 
something to your liking to do. ,, 

Somehow all this kindness robbed me of the 
composure which a strict business-like attitude 
on Mr. Garth’s part might have helped me to 
preserve. I could only thank him brokenly, and 
beg him to excuse my appearance in the drawing- 
room, as I felt fit for nothing but solitude and 
bed. He readily promised to do what I wished, 
and at length I felt at liberty to retire for the 
night. But by this time I had a distracting 
headache, and though I bathed my forehead 
with eau-de-cologne, and tried various other in- 
fallible specifics, I found it impossible to go to 
sleep, or even to subdue the pain which tor- 
mented me. From below I could occasionally 
hear the sound of singing, though I was unable 
to judge whether the vocalist w~as the elder or 
the younger of the two visitors. 

About twelve o’clock, as judged from the 
periodical chiming of the little clock in the 
dressing-room, it became evident that the other 
visitors were coming up to bed, and I forthwith 
feigned the sleep which refused to come at my 
bidding, lest voluble Miss May might expect me 
to talk with her. The two ladies made as little 
noise as possible in the dressing-room for a while, 
and I was just thinking that my bedfellow 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


119 


would soon join me, when I heard the most 
blood-curdling shriek imaginable, and a white 
figure fairly flew into the bedroom, jumped into 
the bed, drew the clothes frantically over her 
head and ears, and moaned in a state of shud- 
dering terror. My own natural alarm was 
speedily quenched by the appearance of Mrs. 
Marshall, bearing every evidence of extreme 
anger. 

£C I do believe you are losing your senses 
altogether!” she exclaimed, giving her sister’s 
shoulder a vigorous shake, which, so far from 
pacifying the young lady, only sent her into a 
fresh paroxysm of terror, and caused her to give 
a louder shriek than the first. By this time 
Mrs. Garth had run into the room, to see what 
was the matter, while at the door could be heard 
the voices of a startled group of people, composed 
of the vicar, the cook and the housemaid, all of 
them wondering what on earth the commotion 
was about. Inside the bedroom, the tableau 
was not without interest. Mrs. Garth stood 
with a lighted candle raised above her head, look- 
ing almost as frightened as May seemed to be. 
Mrs. Marshall was trying to convince her sister 
that there was nothing to be afraid of. May 
was steadily trying to bury herself under the 
bedclothes, and I was sitting up in bed, vainly 
struggling to wrest my legitimate share of sheets 


120 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


and blankets from the frantic clasp of their un- 
ceremonious appropriator. 

After a while May grew calmer and popped 
her head from under the clothes with a sudden 
jerk, which caused it to come into contact with 
the chin of her sister, who was bending over her, 
in an attempt to pacify her. The result was 
somewhat painful for Mrs. Marshall, and caused 
May to scream out again in terror. 

“ Keep it off ! Keep it off !” she cried wildly. 

“ Keep what off? What on earth do you 
mean?” I shouted, feeling utterly unnerved and 
vexed at the same time. 

“Oh, the ghost! the ghost! Keep it off!” 
was the shuddering response. 

“How can you be so silly,” I said, out of all 
patience. “What do you mean by a ghost?” 

By this time, May began to seem more 
rational, and cautiously sat up, surveying the 
room with a scared look. “I heard it,” she 
said, solemnly. “And I felt it touch my 
shoulders.” 

“It was no ghost other than myself who 
touched your shoulders,” -spoke up Mrs. Mar- 
shall, still hugging her jaw in an attitude of 
pain. “ I wish I could shake some sense into 
you.” 

“ Oh ! it was you, was it?” quoth May. “ But 
it wasn’t you who gave three unearthly taps at 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


121 


the window. I heard them quite distinctly, and 
I’m sure it was all done by a ghost.” 

“It was done by the Virginia Creeper which 
climbs all over this side of the house,” said Mrs. 
G-arth. “You will very likely hear it again, 
but may go to sleep comfortably.” 

“ And let other people go to sleep,” added Mrs. 
Marshall, as she went back to her own room. 

Mrs. Garth, after bidding us both good-night, 
also retired, and May subsided angrily into a 
recumbent position. “Just like Madge, to try 
and make me look ridiculous,” she grumbled. 
“ All the same, it was a ghost, and I won’t stay 
here after to-morrow.,” 

And this was the girl who, only a few hours 
before, had talked of laying a ghost and un- 
earthing the ghostly buried treasure with which 
her prolific imagination haunted the home of 
my childhood! 

Certainly her escapade had had one good 
effect. It had banished my headache, and I 
did not suffer any more from insomnia that 
night. 

When I awoke the next morning, May Morris 
was looking at me with a comical expression of 
disgust on her pretty face. 

“Do you know,” she said solemnly, “I believe 
I made a perfect idiot of myself last night. I 
can’t think what it was that so unnerved me. 


122 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


The fact is, it was the unexpectedness of the 
whole thing. Now, if I had known beforehand 
that the house was haunted, I shouldn’t have 
been frightened a bit. You wait and see what 
a bold front I shall put on when we see the 
Grange ghost.” 

“My dear,” I said, with a smile born of a 
conscious superiority in matters nervous, “ there 
are two reasons why I cannot show the Grange 
ghost.” 

“And what are they?” 

“ I am not likely to visit the interior of the 
Grange, and, if I did visit it, I could not show 
any one its ghost, because it hasn’t got one.” 

“Hasn’t it, really?” 

“ No — really.” 

“ What a pity ! And just when I thought I 
was going to have a share of the treasure! 
Never mind, I shall find another some day. 
Oh, by the by, Mr. Garth told me a funny 
thing last night. He said that you, a rich 
young lady, belonging to a county family, 
and, as one might almost say, the widow of 
an earl, wanted to take a situation and earn 
your own living ! ” 

“ He is quite right in what he has stated.” 

“ Then I believe I know just the sort of thing 
that would suit you, that is, if you would care 
to go to Russia.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY -GIRL. 


128 


“Why not?” 

“Well, you see, it is such a queer place. It 
swarms all over with nihilists, and anarchists, 
and spies, and caviare, and bomb-shells, and 
there are prisons at every street corner, into 
which they clap you without so much as a 
minute’s notice, if you don’t happen to salaam 
humbly every time a government official goes 
by in his amber gown and scarlet turban. In 
fact, it’s just a horrid place, where they can’t 
speak English, and where they murder every- 
body who can’t pronounce the word ‘Peccavi.’ ” 

“Upon my word, May, you’ll be the death of 
me yet! You seem to get awfully mixed up in 
your information. Somebody must have been 
slandering Russia to you a little. Of course, it 
could never be half -so nice as England at its 
best; but even the Evil One, you know, isn’t half 
so black as he’s painted, and we’ll give Russia 
the benefit of doubt. Anyhow, your description 
hasn’t frightened me, and, if you don’t mind, 
you shall give me the particulars of the situa- 
tion you were speaking of, while I complete 
my toilet.” 

“ All right, I’ll tell you about it. But if you 
are put in prison and tickled to death, don’t say 
I didn’t warn you. I dare say you have heard 
that when Madge and I are at home we live at 
South Kensington. Now next door to us there 


124 AD VENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

lives a Russian lady with her little daughter 
and a whole swarm of servants. We met Ma- 
dame Kominski at Lady Tranmere’s At Home 
last week, and heard that she was looking out 
for a useful companion to take back to Russia 
with her. She wanted somebody who was a 
real lady, who could be treated on a family foot- 
ing, and who could speak French or German. 
She had had several applicants for the post, but 
none of them suited.” 

“I wonder why?” 

“Well, between you and me and the post, I 
think I know. They were all too good-looking. 
Madame is both young and beautiful, and does 
not want a companion who will eclipse her.” 

“Then I suppose I shUll stand a chance of 
securing the coveted post, since I am almost 
ugly enough to serve as a foil even to a plain 
woman.” 

“Now that is nasty of you, for I don’t call 
you a bit ugly. Only just unbeautiful enough 
to prevent madame from being jealous.” 

“Very well. I will go back to London to- 
morrow and interview Madame Kominski, if 
you will furnish me with her address.” 

“ But why not write?” 

“ A letter would not describe my appearance 
accurately enough. If madam desires some one 
who is unbeautiful, as you put it, a sight of me 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


125 


will go far to convince her that she has found 
the treasure she is in search of.” 

4< I don’t quite understand you, but of course I 
will write the address down for you, and if you 
really get the appointment, you must write me 
regular accounts of your adventures. Then I’ll 
have them printed in a book, and if I can’t find 
a buried treasure, I shall perhaps be famous as 
an authoress.” 

‘‘A valuable wrinkle, my dear. I must be 
careful not to write anything that isn’t in- 
tended to become public property.” 

“ Oh, but you are sure to be in such a perpet- 
ual state of excitement that you will not be able 
to weigh all your words when y r ou are writing. 
There is one difficulty. Suppose they put you 
in prison, how will. you manage to send your 
letters off?” 

“You must trust me for that. I am sure to 
find some way of dispatching all the letters I 
am likely to write to you while in prison. On 
your side, you must never mention anything 
about Russia or the Russians in any letter you 
may dispatch to the czar’s country. Then we 
shall be all right.” 

‘‘Very well, then that is all arranged. But 
before you go downstairs I am going to show 
you the loveliest, most ravishing, most delightful 
thing you ever saw in your life. Look here ! ” 


126 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


As May spoke, she jumped up and dived into 
one of her boxes, whence she fished out a whole 
handful of photographs. I naturally expected 
to behold the presentment of a superlatively 
beautiful member of my own sex, and was not 
a little astounded to see a dozen portraits of a 
popular but by no means wonderfully hand- 
some actor. 

‘‘Isn’t he bewitching?” May rhapsodized. 
“Did you ever see any one in your life half so 
handsome? Oh, he’s simply adorable!” 

“And did he give you all those photographs?” 

“Oh, dear no! I bought them all with my 
own pocket-money. I love him so dearly that I 
dream of him almost night and day, and I buy 
a copy of every fresh portrait of him that is 
issued. Oh, if you could only imagine how I 
love him!” 

“And does he return your love?” 

“Unfortunately for me, he does not know me. 
He has never even seen me.” 

“Then I suppose you fell in love with him on 
the stage.” 

“ISTo, he is nearly always on tour, and I have 
never seen him act. Indeed, I have never seen 
him at all. I just saw a photograph of him in 
a shop-window, and straightway fell in love 
with it. You may think it only a passing 
fancy. But I feel that if I could only look upon 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


127 


his face, my greatest dreams of earthly bliss 
would be realized, and I would be content to 
die.” 

“Mere romance, my dear girl. You will come 
across some one in the flesh who will prove much 
more charming than the counterfeit present- 
ments of your adorable actor, who, by- the- by, 
becomes engaged to a fresh young lady about 
every six months.” 

“I can’t help it. He is just all in all to me, 
and I shall never marry so long as he remains 
single. If, after all my devotion, my hero mar- 
ries another woman, then I may think of accept- 
ing a gentleman who proposes to me every three 
months. Meanwhile, I have a little consolation. 
I often take a look at his house at Kensington, 
in the hope of catching a glimpse of him through 
one of the windows.” 

And in this style May meandered on, the 
while I wondered whether she were really sane 
or not. She was evidently badly smitten, and 
by mere portraits, which must have revealed to 
her many beauties of expression which were hid- 
den to me, for I could only look upon them as 
the faithful presentments of a man whom I had 
heard spoken of as selfish, conceited and unscru- 
pulous in his dealings with women. 

“I suppose you are quite disburdened of all 
the particulars of your wonderful romance by 


128 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


this time,” was Mrs. Marshall's cheery greet- 
ing. “I knew it was no use interrupting you 
before you had confided the whole story to Miss 
Courtney. And what do you think of it, Miss 
Dora, now that you have heard it?” 

This last question was addressed to me with 
such a humorous twinkle in Mrs. Marshall’s 
merry dark eyes, that, for the life of me, I could 
not help responding to it, and my comments 
were expressed in a burst of hearty laughter, 
which not all my latent worries could rob of its 
spontaneity. I was not sure that May might 
not resent our irreverence, but she took it very 
good-humoredly, and five minutes later we were 
all greeting our host and hostess at the break- 
fast-table. 

As both the sisters were in quite a merry 
mood, they cheered the rest of us up wonder- 
fully, and no one, to look at us, would imagine 
that we had ever become acquainted with care. 


CHAPTER VI. 


“When venom’d gossip shows her poison-fangs, the 
watchword is, ‘Beware!’” 

But as soon as breakfast was over, I had a 
private confabulation with Mr. Garth, in which 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


129 


he fully approved of my intention of [going to 
see Madame Kominski at once. 

“Let me see,” he said by-and-by. “There is 
a train from Moorbye at 12:52. This would 
enable you to reach Kensington by 4:30, a 
good time, I should imagine, for catching the 
lady at home. If you fail to see her this even- 
ing, you can either return here, or put up at a 
hotel which I can recommend for the night. If 
you do not come to an arrangement, you will 
return and stay here, of course, until something 
else turns up. Should you, on the other hand, 
find the appointment one that you can accept, 
your future proceedings will be arranged be- 
tween Madame Kominski and yourself.” 

“The 12:50 train will suit me admirably,” I 
said. “I shall have time to pay a visit to Bobby 
and Teddy. They, at least, will remember me 
with affection.” 

“Then suppose you get ready at once, Dorrie. 
I will go with you, as I want to see John Page. 
He has had frequent touches of rheumatism 
lately, and I promised to take him some lini- 
ment. I can talk to him while you interview 
your pets.” 

“Miss Morris is anxious to go to the Grange. 
But I would much rather go without her this 
morning. ” 

“My wife will amuse her. I can take her, 


130 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

together with her sister, to have a look at Court- 
ney Grange to-morrow.” 

Half an hour later the vicar and I were walk- 
ing briskly toward my old home, and I was feel- 
ing happy- at the mere sight of the waving corn- 
fields and smiling hedge- rows which stretched 
on our right hand, in vivid contrast to the semi- 
barrenness and sober but quaint coloring of the 
moorland on our left. I found it impossible to 
pass all the floral treasures which greeted me by 
the way, and my heart presently grew heavy at 
the thought that it might possibly be years be- 
fore I was able to gather another bunch of wild 
flowers on my native heath. When the chim- 
neys of the Grange came in sight, I had a fierce 
battle to fight with my avowed determination 
not to enter its doors again, and I found that 
sentiment was, after all, a much stronger passion 
in me than wounded pride. 

“Oh, I must run in and see Martha,” I ex- 
claimed, when at last we emerged from the long 
avenue. “Do wait a minute here, while I run 
round to the back and give her a surprise.” 

Suiting the action to the word, I left the good- 
najured vicar to his own devices, while I hur- 
ried round to the kitchen entrance, anxious to 
see Martha at her usual avocations, in order that 
I might fancy this hurried visit to my home 
more homelike. Somewhat to my disappoint- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


131 


ment, Martha was not half so surprised as I had 
fancied she would be. 

“Eh! is that you, Miss Dora?” she exclaimed, 
dropping the potato she was peeling, as I impet- 
uously sprang into the kitchen and gave her a 
warm greeting. “I thought maybe you would 
come to-day; and you’ll find your room quite 
ready for you.” 

“But how could you know I was coming?” I 
inquired blankly. “I never sent you word that 
you might expect me.” 

“JSTo, but Mr. Courtney did. We got a letter 
from him this morning. Here it is.” 

I took the letter, which she pulled out of her 
pocket for me, and read it, feeling as if ail the 
romance were knocked out of me again. 

“Prepare Miss Dorans room. If she is not 
already at the Grange, you may expect her 
soon.” 

That was all, and I could not help a slight 
feeling of vexation at its tenor. True, it im- 
plied that my father had not really intended to 
banish me altogether. But it also evinced such 
a determination to ignore any mental distress in 
which I might be submerged that it convinced 
me more than ever of the hopelessness of ever 
expecting my father to show the least spark of 
true affection for me. 

“And how is John?” I asked soberly. 


132 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

“John! Why, John’s pretty much as usual, 
I think,” said Martha, with a sharp touch of 
asperity in her voice. “But somehow he seems 
to be everlastingly complaining of late, and it’s 
‘Oh, my leg! Oh, my back!’ nearly all day 
long.” 

“Then he must be really ill.” 

“Not he. He’s just taken a lazy fit, and 
wants pampering, that’s all.” 

“Which he isn’t likely to get from the wife 
o’ his buzzim,” broke in John’s voice at this 
juncture. 

“Oh, John, I quite forgot!” I exclaimed 
penitently. “The vicar is waiting for you on 
the steps. He has got some liniment for you.” 

John hobbled off at' once, calling out, as he 
did so: “There’s a letter waiting for you up- 
stairs, Miss Dora.” 

Aroused to sudden curiosity, I at once ran up 
to my old room, and almost cried with joy to 
see Lady Elizabeth’s beloved handwriting. If 
my father’s missive lacked sympathy, his wife’s 
made ample amends for it, for it breathed of 
nothing but love and anxious care for my well- 
being. It had been taken for granted by my 
stepmother that I would come straight to the 
Grange and wait quietly there for the return of 
the rest of the family. I resolved to perpetuate 
her comforting delusion as long as I could, and 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


133 


forthwith wrote her a letter, in which I thanked 
her warmly for all the nice messages she sent 
me, and assured her that she need have no un- 
easiness about me, as I should make myself 
quite comfortable while at Moorbye. 

Then I sallied out to the stables, having won- 
dered already how it was that I had seen noth- 
ing either of Bobby or of Teddy. Even as I got 
quite up to the stable door they were both still 
invisible, and a vague feeling of impending 
calamity seized me, as the old familiar whistle, 
to which my erstwhile playmates had been wont 
to respond so joyously, failed to evoke the usual 
boisterous signs of recognition from either of 
them. I certainly did hear a feeble whine, but 
could hardly credit it to be Bobby’s usually 
clamorous voice. 

“Oh, my God!” I thought dumbly, “is a new 
trouble about to befall me?” 

Then I walked slowly forward, feeling a leaden 
weight on limbs and brain alike. With quak- 
ing heart and anxious eyes I peered in the direc- 
tion of Teddy’s old stall, and when I failed to 
see the dear little ugly companion of my happi- 
est frolics, I only felt the mist which covered 
my eyes to be the outcome of a dreary convic- 
tion which had been stealing over me ever since 
I emerged from the house. For a moment a 
deadly faintness almost overpowered me, so that 


134 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


I had to seize the nearest available support, in 
order to prevent myself from falling. While I 
still stood, feeling half dazed with a newly 
added sense of misery, I once more heard, the 
feeble imitation of a whine which had already 
attracted, my attention. Then, looking down, I 
saw, painfully rolling toward me, a little round 
body that must be, could be, nothing but my 
darling Bobby. Hastily stepping forward, I 
stooped and lifted, the object, and oh! how can 
I ever describe what I felt when, taking it to 
the light, I discovered it to be none other than 
my beloved pet ! Poor fellow ! he had recognized 
me, and, though almost at death’s door, had 
made a desperate effort to meet me once more. 

I sat down with him on my lap and bent over 
him in an agony of grief. He, in his turn, 
fondly licked my fingers and looked at me with 
a piteous, all-adoring love shining out of the 
beautiful eyes which were already fast glazing 
over with the last dread film. 

“Oh, my darling!” I moaned, as I kissed his 
dear little head over and over again. “What 
have I done that I should lose everything I love? 
I would, give ten years of my life to see you 
frisk about me in the old happy way. Can’t 
you really get better, now that I have come?” 

Did the poor thing understand me, or was he 
only making a supreme effort to make me com- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


135 


prehend how glad he was to see me? Perhaps 
it was both, for he always was more intelligent 
than some human beings I have encountered. 
Be this as it may, he suddenly rose to his feet, 
and stood looking in my face for a moment al- 
most the picture of his old excitable self, with 
sparkling eyes and quivering body. Then he 
gave a sharp, glad bark, and dropped, lifeless, 
on the lap of one of the most desolate human 
beings on earth. 

How long I sat there in my misery I do not 
know, «but was at last interrupted by the voice 
of the vicar, who, perceiving what had hap- 
pened, asked me no questions, but, gently lift- 
ing poor Bobby’s body into a basket which stood 
close by, suggested that we should, bury him 
ourselves before we returned to the vicarage. 
As one in a dream, I let him lead me whither he 
would, and together we went down to the old. 
orchard, where, presently, my kindly friend took 
upon himself the office of grave-digger. Con- 
cerning Teddy, I asked no more questions just 
now, for I no longer believed him to be alive. 

When I had marked Bobby’s resting-place, I 
turned to John Page, whom, for the first time, 
I noticed to be standing near me. “And now,” 
I said, my voice still shaken with sobs, “tell me 
how it is that you never sent us word that my 
pets were ill.” 


136 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“Indeed, miss, I did,” answered John, with 
a sympathetic look at my grief-stricken face. 
“I sent the master word about everything. 
You had only been gone a day or two when 
Teddy began to fret and go off his feed. He 
would seek you in the yard, and in the orchard, 
and in all sorts of likely and unlikely places, 
and when he couldn’t see. anything of you, he 
would whinny that pitifully that neither Martha 
nor me liked to hear him. We used to try to 
pet him up a bit. But it was no go, and we 
could see that if he went on fretting like that 
things would soon go wrong with him. Bobby, 
too, hung his head, and walked about looking 
the picture of misery. When you were away at 
my lady’s place, before, they both took on con- 
siderable. But you were not quite so long 
away, and it hadn’t such an effect on them as 
it’s had this time. It was only last week that 
Teddy died, and Bobby has never been out of 
the stable since. I have done what I could for 
him, but anybody could see that he wouldn’t be 
here long. The master knew Teddy was dead, 
and I’m sure I thought you knew all about it. 
I buried him just at the foot of the paddock, 
feeling that that was where you would have 
liked to put him, if you had been at home.” 

I couldn’t speak. But I gave John a look 
which would show him that I exonerated him 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


137 


from blame and that I was grateful to him for 
what he had tried to do for me. Then I walked 
down to the paddock, to take one last look at 
poor old Teddy’s resting-place. And here a 
fresh idea seized me. My two pets had been 
such inseparable friends during life that I felt 
it cruel to part them in death, and returned to 
John, to ask him to bring Bobby’s body to be 
finally interred beside that of his friend and 
companion. My wish was soon accomplished, 
and then, without looking back at the old home 
even once more, I walked away toward the 
vicarage, followed by the vicar, and hardly 
knowing whether grief at my loss, or resentment 
at the callousness which had prevented my father 
from telling me the true state of the case, was 
predominant. 

I had not walked far before I was overtaken 
by Mr. Garth, but there was very little said be- 
tween us until we were nearly at the vicarage. 

“Did you know that my pony was dead?” I 
asked him. 

“Certainly not,” he replied. “I saw John 
last week, and he never mentioned either of 
your pets, though I do not doubt that he has 
taken good care of them. Very likely your 
father did not wish you to be told much about 
them, lest the news should unsettle you.” 

“Yes, of course. That is the true explanation 


138 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

of the case. My father was actuated by tender 
regard for my feelings, and I ought to feel pro- 
portionately grateful. But, somehow, I don’t 
feel particularly moved in the direction of grati- 
tude, and the sooner I am away from the neigh- 
borhood of Courtney Grange the better. I shall 
not regret my absence from it now, since my 
presence near it could only foster painful mem- 
ories. The past is dead, and I must let my dead 
past bury its dead.” 

“You have youth and energy on your side, 
my dear. I predict that in six months you will 
yearn for your old home again and be as happy 
as ever here.” 

“Never! You do not know me, Mr. Garth. 
My experiences since I went to London have 
been such as to develop and increase the latent 
passions of my childhood, besides endowing me 
with others toward which I never suspected my- 
self to have a leaning. Among the latter are 
self-reliance, independence, and firmness of pur- 
pose. They alone will forbid my early return 
to the Grange.” 

“Well, I will not argue the point with you, 
child, as of course you know more about the 
matter than I do. But has it struck you that 
while we have been lingering at the Grange, 
time has been flying, and that you have missed 
the 12:50 train for London? You will have to 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 139 

put off your journey until morning, as the next 
train. from here arrives in London too late to 
enable you to call at Madame Kominski’s house 
this evening. ” 

“Then what shall I Mo? How soon can I get 
there in the morning?” 

“If you do not mind rising early, you can 
leave by the 6:30 A.M. train. That will land 
you in Kensington in good time.” 

“If you and Mrs. Garth — ” 

“Pray don’t mention it, child. We are only 
too happy to do what we can for you. Oh, there 
they all are! ” 

“They” of whom he spoke were Mrs. Garth, 
Mrs. Marshall and Miss Morris, who were walk- 
ing leisurely toward us, their hands full of wild 
roses and honeysuckle, which they had been 
pulling in the hedgerows. Master Yinnie was 
skipping alone in front, and having an occa- 
sional race with Leo, a splendid St. Bernard, 
who looked as wise as any of us. 

The whole party looked so handsome, so 
happy, and so thoroughly satisfied with their lot 
in life, that my own isolation and loneliness 
struck me more forcibly than ever. I am not 
sure that I was not goingto give way to another 
outburst of grief, when I chanced to look up 
into Mr. Garth’s face, and saw that the erst- 
while sad and sympathetic expression of his 


140 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


countenance had vanished as magically as dp 
morning mists before the power of the rising 
sun. He was smiling at the pleasant sight 
which greeted his gaze, and in an instant I was 
confounded by a sense of the selfishness of my 
own conduct. What right had I to obtrude my 
private griefs upon my friends? True, they 
were kind and sympathizing, but that did not 
deprive them of their due claim to consideration, 
and life does not hold so much happiness for any 
that one can afford to exchange the flowers of 
joy for the withered leaves of sorrow, even 
though the sorrow may more closely appertain 
to another. 

I believe that great changes of character may 
be brought about in susceptible and highly- 
strung natures by trifling incidents, and a sud- 
denly conceived resolve of my own was no par- 
ticularly noticeable departure from a somewhat 
general rule. “If I cannot be happy myself,” 
I reflected, “I can at least conduce to the happi- 
ness of others by presenting a bright and cheer- 
ful front to the world. And this I will try to 
do in future, God helping me.” 

It was in conformity with this resolution that 
I walked smilingly up to Mrs. Garth and her 
guests, and apologized for having kept the vicar 
so long away from them. Then I challenged 
Winnie and Leo to a race, and, before Mr. Garth 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


141 


had time to conjecture the cause of the abrupt 
change in my demeanor, I was scampering down 
the lane with the delighted boy, and the no less 
delighted dog, who instantly entered into the 
spirit of the diversion suggested, as did also 
May Morris, who laughingly exclaimed that she 
saw no reason why she should not join in the 
fun, and promptly followed in our wake. We 
had half an hour of scampering and laughter, 
and returned to the vicarage breathless, rosy, 
and hungry. Perhaps Leo could hardly be ac- 
cused of being either breathless or rosy, but he 
was certainly as ready for his midday meal as 
^ any of us. As for myself, I noted with surprise 
that my effort to appear cheerful and happy had 
recoiled upon myself, and that I no longer felt 
so miserable as I had done earlier in the day. 

“You’re just a dear, jolly girl,” said May to 
me, as we were rehabilitating our toilet, pre- 
vious to going down to lunch. “I’m awfully 
sorry you are going away so soon, and I’m 
awfully afraid lest those horrid Russians should 
lock you up in one of their dungeons. Just 
fancy how awfully horrid it would be if they 
were to hang you up by the thumbs, and flog 
you with a bundle of knouts!” 

“My dear girl,” I said, unable to refrain from 
laughter at May’s limited and slangy vocabu- 
lary, as well as at her hazy and mixed-up notions 


142 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


of things Russian. “It is not by any means 
sure that I. am going to Russia, and even if I do 
go, it is of no use anticipating unlikely contin- 
gencies.” 

4 4 Perhaps not , 5 ’ retorted May sapiently . 4 4 But 
one may as well be prepared for possibilities, 
and then they don’t overtake one as a surprise. 
And, after ail, there are perhaps worse things 
than the knout.” 

4 4 Hardly,” I rejoined. 4 4 The knout so gener- 
ally proves an instrument of death that it must 
be regarded as the extreme punishment. ’ ’ 

“But suppose they banish you to Siberia?” 

44 X don’t see any probability of such a disaster, 
as, if I am lucky enough to secure the appoint- 
ment I am seeking, I shall be very careful about 
what I say and do. And now — suppose we go 
downstairs?” 

After luncheon the vicar announced his inten- 
tion of paying some visits which he owed to a 
few of the poorer of his parishioners. 44 I do not 
care to inflict myself upon them in the fore- 
noon,” he added. “They are generally busy, 
either cleaning or cooking, and do not care to be 
bothered by callers before they have had time to 
don themselves up a little.” 

4 4 But why should you trouble yourself to visit 
them at all, when you have a curate who could 
look after your poorer parishioners?” asked 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


143 


Mrs. Marshall. “The vicar of St. Dungaree’s 
Church only associates with, or speaks person- 
ally to, the well-to-do people of his parish. He 
never goes to any house of which the rent is less 
than seventy pounds per annum.” 

“Then I suppose he does not think people with 
small incomes possess souls?” I ejaculated. 

“Oh, dear, yes! of course they have souls. 
But you can’t attach as much importance to 
their conversion as if they were in a position to 
be of service to the church, as rich people can 
be, and a curate’s attentions are as much as they 
can expect.” 

“Then we may conclude that the objects of a 
curate and of a vicar are entirely dissimilar. 
The curate wishes to save souls. The vicar is 
anxious to wheedle money out of his parishion- 
ers. Fie, Mrs. Marshall, how can you so depre- 
ciate Mr. Garth’s calling?” 

“Good gracious! Miss Courtney. It’s you 
who are doing it, not me. I never thought of 
the matter in the light you are throwing upon it. 
And I am sure Mr. Garth understands my mean- 
ing very well.” 

“To be sure I do,” responded the vicar, good- 
humoredly. “No doubt the vicar of St. Dun- 
garee’s is swayed by motives which outsiders do 
not understand. For my own part, I am quite 
convinced of my own unfitness for a city living, 


144 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


as I have what some would consider inveterately 
democratic notions. For instance, I am far hap- 
pier when chatting with old Mrs. Murfree, who 
has been bedridden for six years, and who never- 
theless earns a precarious livelihood by knitting 
and coarse needlework, than when conversing 
with Lady Smythe, who imagines herself .to be 
the greatest lady in the county. And I would 
much rather have .a talk and a smoke with old 
Grey, our cobbler-poet, than be invited out to 
dine with the lord of the manor.” 

“And that reminds me,” put in Mrs. Garth, 
“that Lady Smythe and her daughters are com- 
ing this afternoon for a game of tennis. The 
Worthingtons will probably be here, too, so I 
hope you will try to get back before they leave.” 

The vicar, having promised to use his best 
endeavors in that direction, now hurried off. I 
would rather have been excused from meeting 
the coming guests, if I had consulted only my 
own inclination; and it required a little mental 
struggle on my part to induce me to persevere 
just then in my lately-formed resolve to be as 
cheerful as possible at all times. May Morris, 
superficial and shallow as she seemed, was a 
bright, merry girl, who did nothing to foster 
either lugubriousness or reserve, and with whom 
it would have been difficult for me to maintain 
a silent mood for any length of time. Yinnie, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


145 


too, seemed to have taken immensely to me since 
the morning and eagerly importuned us for an- 
other romp. Thus it happened that when the 
Sfnythe family drove up to the door they were 
rather scandalized by seeing two young women, 
who were evidently utterly regardless of appear- 
ances, scampering along a sidewalk, laughing 
and panting, followed by a fleet-footed child, who 
was pelting them with daisies which had a few 
hours before bespangled the tennis lawn, and by 
an excited St. Bernard, whose occasional tugs 
had utterly ruined the fresh appearance of their 
gowns. 

“There now,” I said at last. “I really must 
sit down a bit. Yinnie, hadn’t you better run 
in and ask nurse to sponge your hands and face, 
before any visitors see you? I think I must go 
in also and straighten my hair.” 

“That’s just how I feel,” said May, so we all 
adjourned, in order to present a better appear- 
ance by-and-by. 

An hour later both courts on the vicarage 
tennis lawn were occupied with players, most of 
whom wielded their racquets in such a way as to 
indicate considerable practice in the health-giv- 
ing pastime upon which they were now engaged. 
The two brothers Worthington, sons of a local 
landed proprietor, were worthy partners of the 
Misses Smythe, and Mr. Graham, the doctor’s 


146 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


assistant — whose aider and abettor in all social 
functions at which they could both be present 
was Mr. Wix, our curate — was so evidently 
smitten by May’s charms that I caught myself 
wondering whether he would be able to supplant 
the fascinating actor. Mrs. Marshall had offered 
to let me play in her stead,’ but a reaction from 
my previous excitement had set in, and I craved 
quiet and repose. Leaving her, therefore, to a 
game which I knew she would enjoy, I strolled 
further away from the house, and presently sat 
down on the forked arm of an apple-tree which 
grew just behind the hut that had been erected 
for the accommodation of those who preferred to 
watch the game rather than take an active part 
in it. The branch of the tree hung so low that 
I had no difficulty in fixing myself comfortably 
upon it, and I soon found the repose of my situ- 
ation so conducive to drowsiness that I think I 
must have gone to sleep for a little while. 

At any rate I was roused by the sound of 
voices which I could not localize for a few mo- 
ments, as I had not noticed the approach of the 
speakers, who were evidently now sitting in the 
hut close to me. My own name fell on my ears 
with somewhat startling distinctness. 

“Miss Dora Courtney,” said a voice which I 
recognized as that of Lady Smythe, the wife of 
an ex-wine merchant who had chanced to be the 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


147 


mayor of a neighboring town on the occasion 
of the Queen’s Jubilee, and had consequently 
dropped into a knighthood. “Miss Dora Court- 
ney surprises me by her behavior.” > . 

“In what way, Lady Smythe? And who is 
the young lady, that she should evoke interest 
in you f" asked another voice, which was 
strange to me, but which had such a liberal al- 
lowance of flattering unction in it, and which 
laid such emphasis on the second person singu- 
lar that I set its owner down for a toady of the 
first water at once. 

“My dear Miss Grindle,” was the reply, “I 
am certainly exclusive. But I am able to take 
interest in many people whose position in society 
scarcely warrants notice from me. Otherwise 
you would hardly find me mixing indiscrimi- 
nately with people at parties like this. It 
pleases commoners to be noticed by persons of 
title, and I pride myself upon being looked upon 
as more condescending than the rest of the 
nobility hereabouts.” 

“Oh, you’re just an angel! If only the 
Mountmerlyns were like you.” 

“Ah, yes! poor things! I feel sorry for them. 
What’s the use of their asthmatic old earldom, 
without money to keep it up? Such a struggle 
as they must have ! And, between you and me, 
they’re dying to know Sir Robert and myself, 


148 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

but are overawed by a, sense of the great differ- 
ence in our position.” 

“You mean — Lady Smythe?” 

“We are so rich, and they are so poor. No 
wonder they are afraid of intruding upon 
us.” 

“And this Miss Courtney? — ” 

“To be sure, we«were talking of Miss Court- 
ney. Well, she was brought up at Courtney 
Grange, and has a sister and brother who are 
perfectly lovely, strange as it may seem when 
you look at her plain face. I believe they pride 
themselves upon being a county family, but they 
were a very poverty-stricken lob until the father 
secured for his second wife a rich widow, the 
daughter of the Earl of Greatlands. Then one 
startling announcement followed another. Lady 
Elizabeth’s brother, the heir to the earldom, 
became engaged to the beautiful Miss Courtney. 
Then the wedding was put off because the old 
earl was to be married to the ugly Miss Court- 
ney, the one who is here now. While all society 
was opening its eyes in amazement at this freak 
of the old earl, it was startled by the news of his 
death on his wedding- morning.” 

“How shocking ! And had the marriage 
taken place?” 

“How could it? This girl would then have 
been the Countess of Greatlands.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


149 


4 ‘Poor thing! What a dreadful disappoint- 
ment for her.” 

“Yes, you may well say so. And that is 
what surprises me so about her. She seems to 
be quite happy and merry. Look how she was 
running about the garden when we came — a 
perfect tomboy.” 

“So she was. It’s really very indecent of 
her, when one comes to think of it. She ought 
to keep herself as quiet as if she were really a 
widow.” 

“H’m ! widows ! I don’t think much of them. 
They are a flighty lot. But what do you think 
people are saying about the ‘ Greatlands Ro- 
mance,’ as it is called?” 

“I’m sure I don’t know. You see, I have 
been abroad, and — ” 

“And you can’t afford to buy the newspapers. 
Yes, I know all about that. Well, they say that 
the earl’s son — that is, the present earl, and his 
intended bride, Miss Belle Courtney, were furi- 
ous when they heard of the old gentleman’s in- 
fatuation, and that they swore the marriage 
should never take place. One of the servants 
overheard a desperate quarrel between the two 
sisters, in which the elder vowed all sorts of 
horrible things. After that it was queer, to say 
the least, that the poor old man, who had gone 
to bed the night before quite healthy and happy, 


150 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

should be found to be dead when bis valet went 
to rouse him on bis marriage morning.’ ’ 

“Good heavens! why, they must have mur- 
dered him!” 

“ Well, it certainly looks like it. They vowed 
he shouldn’t get married, and he didn’t live to 
get married. Of course, the other couple, now 
that all obstacles have been swept out of their 
path, will get married soon and share the wealth 
and title. But I wouldn’t like to stand in their 
shoes. — Oh, here is Mrs. Garth! Mrs. Garth, 
we have just been saying what a good thing it 
is for poor Miss Dora Courtney that she can be 
so cheerful after all her troubles.” 

“Yes, she bears up wonderfully, poor child. 
But I have not seen her for some time. I 
thought she was perhaps in here with you. 
Where will you have your tea? Here, or in 
the drawing-room?” 

“I think I would rather go indoors for a while. 
I want to look at some new prints Mr. Garth 
was telling me about.” 

A few minutes later the hut had changed 
occupants, and May Morris, hot and excited 
after a victorious game, was pouring tea for 
the tennis players out of an urn which a servant 
had placed on the table, while the young men 
were handing the bread and butter plates round, 
amid a chorus of laughter and merry rapartee. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 151 


I alone sat unobserved, lonely, and now once more 
thoroughly miserable, heedless of aught else 
save my own bitter reflections, and feeling as 
incapable of moving as I had done during the 
conversation between Lady Smythe and Miss 
Grindle. 

That the tragedy of my life should be talked 
about did not surprise me. But that my own 
dreadful suspicions should have found an echo 
in the breasts of others. was to me a most hor- 
rible revelation, which created in me so great 
a revulsion of feeling as to paralyze my energies 
pro tem . I could do nothing for a while but 
sit and wonder vaguely what would be the 
end of it all. Would the conviction of * my sis- 
ter’s guilt spread from one to another until the 
authorities felt bound to interfere, with the ob- 
ject of arriving at a complete solution of the 
mystery? Should I have to give evidence? 
And would Lady Elizabeth be called upon to 
witness against her brother and her stepdaugh- 
ter? Would the name of both families be 
dragged through the mire of the criminal 
courts, and be gloated over by pothouse poli- 
ticians in polemical discussions in re the im- 
morality of the aristocracy? And, horror of 
horrors! suppose things were to come to the 
worst, was it possible that my beautiful sister, 
the pride of her father’s heart, and one of my 


152 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

darling mother’s children, could be sentenced to 
a shameful death ! A murderer’s, death is not 
more shameful than his crime, we know; but, 
alas ! how many hearts bear witness to the agony 
inflicted on friends and relatives by the mandates 
of justice. It would kill Lady Elizabeth if the 
case were brought to trial, and this reflection 
was itself enough- to strengthen my determina- 
tion to avoid publicity henceforth. My very 
presence, it seemed, was sufficient to set the 
tongues of conjecture and suspicion wagging. 
My temporary absence might perhaps help peo- 
ple to forget the existence of myself and my 
history. 

For the future, if I would avoid a crisis, I 
had better be seen and heard as little as possible ; 
and this reflection made me so feverishly anx- 
ious to quit the country that I sprang from my 
seat in excitement and hurried toward the house 
as if thereby I could hasten the interview be- 
tween Madame Kominski and myself. As I 
might have expected, I was intercepted on my 
way and besieged by inquiries as to where I 
had been hiding myself. My pale face and 
heavy eyes indorsed my plea of the desire of 
seclusion on the score of a violent headache, and 
I was allowed to go to my room, where Mrs. 
Garth soon followed me with a cup of tea and 
words of sympathy. Left alone once more, I 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL 153 


meditated earnestly as to my future proceedings, 
finally coming to the conclusion that for the sake 
of Jerry and Lady Elizabeth, if not for the sake 
of my father and Belle, I must never divulge 
aught that could harm Belle, but must do all in 
my power to prevent the suspicions of others 
from being fostered. 

In spite of my desire to appear as cheerful as 
possible, I felt myself unequal to the task of 
going downstairs again that afternoon. Even- 
ing found me able to appear more sociable, and 
the next morning saw me, primed with good 
washes and affectionate ‘*good-bys’\ from my 
dear good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Garth, both 
of whom had got up to escort me to the station, 
en route for Kensington, where I arrived in due 
course. 


CHAPTER VII. 

“ From prying eyes and fingers defend us, good Lord !” 

“Is Madame Kominski visible?” I inquired 
of the smart servant-maid who answered my 
ring at the bell of the house to which I had been 
directed to go. 

“Is it an appointment, madam?” 

“Ko, but I have reason to think that Madame 
Kominski wall see me.” 


154 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

. “If you will step inside, I will ask her. What 
name shall I give?” 

“Miss Dora Saxon.” 

This change of name was the result of my de- 
liberations while on my way here. It struck me 
as desirable, in Belle’s interests. In Belle’s ! 
How strange it seemed that I should have to 
resort to trickery and subterfuge for the sake of 
one who, though so nearly related to me, was 
yet my mortal enemy! Yet so it was, for was 
not the happiness of those whom I loved best on 
earth involved in her immunity from punish- 
ment, if she were guilty; and in her protection 
from false accusation, if she were innocent? 
Ah! would to God I could have thought the 
latter! My course of conduct would then have 
been much easier for me. 

“You wish to see me?” was the question ad- 
dressed to me after a while, in such a musical 
voice that I glanced at the owner of it in pleased 
surprise, as I answered somewhat eagerly : 
“Yes, Madame Kominski. I have been told 
that you are seeking a companion, and would 
like to secure the post. I can give you good 
credentials.” 

“And references to former employers?” 

“I have never lived away from home before.” 

“And why, may I ask, do you wish to come 
to me now?” 


155 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

■» • • tip » 

“My home associations have become painful. 
I was to have been married a month ago, but — ” 

“The old story. Your lover forsook you?” 

“No, my lover died.” 

There was. a quick glance of sympathy, and a 
few moments’ pause. Then Madame Kominski 
resumed: “Your story is very sad. But I am 
afraid that for that very reason I cannot enter- 
tain the idea of making you my companion. I 
want some one who will be cheerful and bright, 
not a woman whose bearing will wear the im- 
press of a tragic past. Pray dq not think me 
unfeeling, but I often have to leave my little 
daughter for days, together, and would not like 
her to be made melancholy.” 

“You would find me as cheerful as you could 
desire. I intend to cast my past from my mind 
as much as possible.” 

“If I could think that — ” 

But there is no need to give the whole conver- 
sation in detail. Suffice it to say that I pre- 
vailed upon Madame Kominski to write to Mr. 
Garth for further particulars of me, and that I 
obtained her promise to engage me, should his 
reply prove satisfactory. Feeling quite sure 
that this would be the case, and that Madame 
Kominski was a woman who could be trusted, I 
told her that my real name was Courtney, but 
that I preferred to be called Miss Saxon for the 


156 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

s,& * • 

future, as I did not wish it to be known that I 
had left home to go to service. As it happened, 
it was well that I took my prospective employer 
into my confidence. She had heard something 
about my history from the newspapers, and my 
candor seemed to win both her sympathy and 
her good-will. 

She insisted upon my having lunch with her, 
and introduced me to her daughter Feodorowna, 
a girl of ten, who could not boast of a much 
more attractive appearance than myself. But 
by- and- by, as * she grew to womanhood, her 
looks might improve, and she might possibly 
become more like her mother, who certainly was 
a very beautiful woman, being tall, stately, and 
inclined to embonpoint, though as yet being only 
sufficiently stout to make her voluptuously per- 
fect. Her fine dark eyes, Grecian features, clear 
skin and purple-black hair, which waved and 
curled about her brows in charming disorder, 
would seem to disclaim a Mongolian origin alto- 
gether, and were all in harmony with her musi- 
cal voice and graceful gait. 

Two days later, a very satisfactory reply to 
madame’s letter having come from Mr. Garth, 
all arrangements were completed. My luggage 
had been sent for, and I was formally installed 
as -companion-governess in the household of 
Madame Kominski, who readily agreed to my 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 157 

wish that my true appellatiye should be dis- 
carded for the present, and that I should be in- 
troduced and known to others only as Miss 
Saxon. I had not forgotten May Morris’s idea 
that absence of good looks was the best recom- 
mendation to madame’s favor. But I did not 
let the notion worry me. I was by this time 
convinced that nature, when denying me beauty, 
had given me some compensating qualifications, 
and Madame Kominski was so kind and friendly 
with me that I found no difficulty in being com- 
paratively happy and wholly cheerful. 

Feodorowna, or Feo, as §he was called by her v 
mother, seemed to have taken quite a fancy to 
me, and I won her heart altogether when I pro- 
posed teaching her to play the violin. I found 
her to be an apt and docile pupil, but as masters 
came to the house to teach her many of the 
branches of her education, such portion of it as 
fell on my shoulders did not prove onerous. 

“We start for St. Petersburg on Monday,” 
said Madame Kominski, the Friday after I had 
become a member of her household, looking up 
from a letter which she was reading. 4 4 1 Suppose 
you have no objection to go there, Miss Saxon?” 

4 ‘None whatever, madame. I shall like it 
very much, I am sure.” 

“I have no doubt you will, for you will have 
every possible comfort and will mingle in the 


158 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

§k 

best society St. Petersburg affords. And you, 
Feo, now that you are going to see your cousins 
again, must not neglect your English. I shall 
depend upon Miss Saxon to insist upon constant 
practice in that and in French.” 

“You may depend upon me, and upon Feo, 
too. We have already made a compact to speak 
nothing but English together one week, and 
nothing but French the next.” 

“And, mother, what is the use of saying Miss 
Saxon every time? Why don’t you call her 
Dora, like I do? She will really seem like one 
of the family then.” 

“Well, Dora be it, with all my heart, child. 
Ah! what’s this? Dora, I find that I have^ to 
go out of "own to-day. I may be back to-mor- 
row, but cannot be sure. You will see that the 
servants push on with the packing.” 

“Certainly. I will do my best to make up for 
your absence.” 

Madame Kominski had evidently read some- 
thing in the last letter she had opened which 
had caused her to form the sudden resolution of 
leaving home that day. She hastily gathered 
the papers which had come by that morning’s 
post together, and was leaving the breakfast 
room with them, when Feo exclaimed: “Oh, 
mother, it is too bad! You promised to take us 
to the theater this evening.” 


159 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

“My dear child, I cannot help that. This 
journey cannot' be postponed. You shall go to 
the Grand Theater soon after we arrive in St. 
Petersburg. You know that I never willingly 
disappoint you or break a promise to you.” 

“Forgive me, dear mother. I won’t complain 
again.” 

From this it may be gathered that Feo was 
a docile, affectionate child, and such I always 
found her. I bould not help hazarding a faint 
conjecture as to the nature of the business which 
took madame from home at a time when one 
would suppose her presence to be more than usu-‘ 
ally necessary in it. But it was no business 
of mine, and I found sufficient to do to occu- 
py all my thoughts and time for the next few 
days. It was Monday at noon before the mis- 
tress of the household returned to it. She 
seemed tired and somewhat dispirited, but in- 
sisted upon starting for St. Petersburg that 
night, as had already been arranged. 

A week later we were all comfortably installed 
in a splendid house, on the Nevski Prospekt, 
and my eyes were fairly dazzled by the magnifi- 
cence pf some of the houses to which I was in- 
troduced. I was very glad that my wardrobe 
was so liberally furnished, and that I was at 
least possessed of the means of mitigating my 
plainness as far as was possible. I was also 


160 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

spared some of the humiliation which had been 
so often meted out to me in England. Whether 
it was that I was surrounded by: more people, 
whose chief characteristic was lack of physical 
beauty, or whether it was that less importance 
was attached to the possession of mere outward 
charms, I cannot say. But it is certain that my 
personal deficiencies were less often brought 
home to me here, and, greatly to my surprise, I 
seemed to promptly win the favor of several 
cultured aristocrats, who apparently never 
dreamed of discounting my few mental attrac- 
tions because I was only a hired companion. 

Many of them spoke English, and showed 
great interest in our social laws and customs, so 
different to those prevailing among themselves. 
To the best of my ability, I answered all the 
questions put to me, sometimes; I fear, forget- 
ting. that to extol English institutions was to 
decry the systems of the land in which I had 
temporarily found a home. One evening ma- 
dame, always good to me, had taken me with 
her to the house of a certain Prince and Princess 
Michaelow, both of whom welcomed her with 
great warmth and affection. The princess, who 
proved to be English, and only a few years older 
than myself, was a girl of strikingly imposing 
figure and lovely appearance. Her rich, glitter- 
ing auburn hair framed a face of the purest 


AD VENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 161 

oval. Her arch, piquant features were set off 
by a complexion of exquisite fairness and purity, 
the cheeks reminding me of nothing so much as~ 
of the dainty pink dog-roses I had so often de- 
lighted to gather at home. *Her teeth were 
white and even, and were given plenty of oppor- 
tunity for display by their smiling owner. But 
her eyes struck me as her chief charm. They 
were large and limpid, fringed by dark lashes, 
and were of the deepest azure, with a bright- 
rayed amber iris that gave them an almost un- 
canny beauty. She was dressed in a gown of 
soft pale blue surah, and her only jewels were * 
pearls. But such pearls! And such a mass of 
them, in ropes, strings, sprays and festoons, 
which helped to put the finishing touch to as 
fair a vision of human beauty as I had ever 
beheld. 

I was half inclined to stand in awe of her at 
first, and to shrink into a pained comparison of 
her appearance and mine. But her frank, cheery 
smile and demonstrative welcome at once put 
that nonsense out of my head, and I was hence- 
forth content to worship her as the embodiment 
of all that was good and beautiful. My admira- 
tion must have shone in my eyes, for the prince 
bent down to me, and said smilingly, in rather 
broken English : “I perceive that Miss Saxon’s 
tastes are similar to my own. I hope, she will 


162 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

often favor us with a visit. My wife has been 
looking forward to meeting Madame Kominski’s 
new friend.” 

New friend! Was that Prince Michaelow’s 
delicate way of putting the case, or did he really 
not know that I was madame’s paid companion? 
I caught myself revolving this conjecture even 
while conversing brightly and with outward 
ease. But it was not destined to trouble me 
long. Later on in the evening, Madame Komin- 
ski, who was a brilliant conversationalist, and 
an evident favorite wherever she went, being 
surrounded by a group of admiring friends, I 
found myself somewhat isolated and thrown 
upon my own resources. Yet I was by no 
means tired or dull, for I watched the ever- vary- 
ing panorama in the brilliant salon in which I 
found myself with considerable interest. 

One man in particular attracted my notice by 
his somewhat sinister aspect and gloomy bear- 
ing. He stood, half concealed by the draperies 
of a large portiere, with erect figure and folded 
arms, looking at Madame Kominski with an ex- 
pression in his eyes which I found it difficult to 
fathom, but which gave me an uneasy convic- 
tion that it boded her no good. He was tall, of 
fine build and bearing, and would, I think, by 
most people be considered handsome. But there 
was a depression of the eyes and upper part of 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 163 

the nose which I did not like, and which seemed 
to me to argue the possession of a cunning and 
perhaps malignant nature. ' 

My inability to fathom the meaning of his 
frequent glances in Madame Kominski’s direc- 
tion began to irritate me. Was it love that he 
felt for her? Or was it hate? ' If the latter, why 
did such a look of desire shine from his eyes 
when they rested on her sparkling beauty? If 
the former, why did he frown and clinch his 
hands at the sound of her merry laugh? 

“You seem engrossed in contemplation of 
Count Karenieff,” said a voice at my elbow. 
“Does his appearance charm you so much?” 

“By no means,” I replied quickly, turning to 
the Princess Michaeloff, who seated herself by 
my side. “On the contrary, he strikes me as 
rather repellant than otherwise. I have been 
wondering if he hates Madame Kominski.” 

“Certainly not. He is madly in love with 
her. Unfortunately for him, our friend’s tastes 
lean in another direction and she has been com- 
pelled to reject his suit.” 

“Then he does hate her, and his glances mean 
revenge. ’ ■ 

“I hope not. He is a dangerous enemy. There 
are several people now doing penance in the for- 
tress of St. Peter and Paul who have been doomed 
to their awful fate through his denunciations. 


164 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


Only last week the son of one of these, a mere 
child of fifteen, was banished to Siberia, and 
there is little doubt that Count Karenieff has a 
hand in this business also.” 

“But what could he, a boy of fifteen, have 
done to deserve so horrible a fate?” 

“He has done nothing to deserve it. No one 
pretends to say that he has. But he is a bright 
and intelligent lad, who might some day be 
seized by a desire to avenge the wrongs of his 
parents, and he is the heir to a vast property 
which is now confiscated by the State. Of 
course the man who has given the State an ex- 
cuse for increasing its revenue has also come in 
for a share of the spoil.” 

“What a monstrous system! What a mon- 
strous — ” 

“For God’s sake, be quiet! If you are over- 
heard talking like that, we are lost! How could 
I have been indiscreet enough to dwell on ta- 
booed subjects like that? I think it must be 
through meeting with some one who is as un- 
sophisticated as I was myself when I first came 
here, only twelve months ago.” 

“So short a time as that?” 

“Yes, so short a time as that. I came out 
here as Madame Kominski’s companion. 
Thanks to her goodness, I had as many social 
advantages given me as if I had been a sprig of 


) 


ADVENTURES* OF AN UGLY GIRL. 165 

nobility, instead of being merely the daughter of 
a poor country curate, who had found it neces- 
sary to leave home to earn a livelihood. Ho\y 
kind fate has been to me ! I was scarcely here 
before I won the love of the man who is now my 
husband. I have surely all that woman can 
desire. I love and am beloved, and I revel in 
unlimited wealth and comfort. Better still, I 
am able to free my parents from the harassing 
anxieties against which they have hitherto had 
to contend. Still—” 

“You must be perfectly happy.” 

“I have only one wish ungratified. I would v 
dearly like to live in England, and to escape the 
constant espionage to which we are all subject. 
But this cannot be, so I spend as much time in 
the company of English people as I can. Do 
you know, Madame Kominski brought an En- 
glish companion out here three years ago. She 
was very fond of her, and was somewhat cut up 
when Miss Vernon, a very handsome woman, 
by-the-by, left her to get married. When I 
left her, she said that she would have no more 
companions, as she grew fond of them only to 
lose them. I am very glad that she has altered 
her mind.” 

So then, madame had been actuated by no 
petty feeling of jealousy when she declined to 
engage a pretty girl as her companion. She had 


166 ADVENTURES OB’ A£T UGLY GIRL. 

few relatives, felt somewhat lonely in the house, 
and desired to secure a companion who would be 
likely to remain a member of her household for 
some time. Struck with this conviction, I felt 
more assured than ever of the real kindness of 
madame’s nature, and actually felt glad for the 
moment that there was no likelihood of her 
being disappointed in me as she had been dis- 
appointed in her other companions. Little did 
I dream how soon she would stand in dire need 
of loving friendship, she, to whom the world 
seemed to wear so smiling and benignant a front ! 

While we had been talking, there had been a 
slight movement of dispersal, and some of the 
guests now claimed the attention of the princess, 
who had certainly given me a disproportionate 
share of her attention. Soon afterward, we also 
took our leave, and both madame and myself 
seemed to have plenty of food for pleasant 
thought during the short dri ve home. 

The next morning it was found a difficult mat- 
ter to rouse Feo at the usual time, and her maid 
expressed the opinion that the child must be ill. 
I went to see her, and found her pale, sick and 
languid, possessed of a violent headache and 
consuming thirst. Somewhat alarmed, I an- 
nounced my intention of summoning a doctor at 
once. But to this plan Feo entered very strenu- 
ous objections. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 1$7 
* * * 

“Indeed, Miss Dora, I am not really ill,” she 
protested. “I shall soon be all right again, and 
I’ll never, never do it again as long as I live.” 

“Do what, child?” r 

“Oh, that would be telling, and I promised 
Olaf that I wouldn’t tell.” 

“That mischievous little cousin of yours! 
You have been up to some naughtiness together. 
Tell me, have you been out and caught a fever, 
or something of that sort?” 

“Oh, dear no, Dora. At least, we caught 
something, but it isn’t a fever, and we didn’t 
have to go out for it. Oh, dear, my head!” 

“Well, I must just go and see if madame 
knows what will cure you.” 

“Oh, Dora, dear! pray don’t! She would be 
so vexed. Look here. I’ll tell you all about it, 
‘ if you’ll promise not to let mother know what is 
the matter with me. ’ ’ 

“But suppose you should get worse. Madame 
would blame me then, and serious mischief might 
result from delay. I really think we must call 
a doctor in.” 

“Oh, Dora, you are so silly! Why can’t you 
understand? I see I shall have to tell you every- 
thing. But do give me a drink of lemonade 
first. I shan’t get worse, that is certain. They 
never do; Olaf says so.” 

“Let Trischl fetch you a cup of coffee.” 


168 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL, 

<c Bali! Do you want to make me s|ck? I 
want lemonade, and you might — yes, I wish you 
would get me some vodki to putln it.” 

“Vodki! Is the child crazy?” 

“No, I’m not crazy. But I think you must 
be, or else you would understand that it’s just 
the Katzenjammer that’s the matter with me.” 

“Katzen jammer! What a queer complaint. 

I hope it isn’t catching.” 

But at this point Feo suddenly became con- 
vulsed with laughter, provoked thereto, I think, 
by the comical aspect of Trischl, who had all 
this time remained in the room, and who had 
thrown her hands up in horror at the name of 
the mysterious disease. The sight of Feo’s 
mirth began to make me feel angry, for it struck 
me that she had been hoaxing me a little. But 
all at once the laughter ceased, and was replaced . 
by sobs, amid which I heard an occasional pro- 
test to the effect that she would “never do it 
again — no, never! ” 

I now deemed it wisest to keep silent for 
a while, and presently Feo raised a repentant 
and shamefaced countenance to mine. 

“I’ll tell you all about it,” she said. “But 
you must promise not to tell mother. ” 

-“If it is nothing very bad.” 

“Of course it isn’t.” 


“Very well, then, I promise.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 169 

“I knew you wouldn’t be nasty with me. 
And now I’ll explain what the Katzen jammer 
is. You get it after you have been tipsy.” 

“Feo!” 

“It’s quite true. You see, last night, after 
mother and 3/ou had gone out, Uncle Feodor and 
Aunt Anna called with Olaf to take me to the 
theater, as they had promised to do. But Olaf 
didn’t want to go to the theater, and asked me 
to stay at home and play with him. He knew 
of such a splendid new game, he said. So we 
got permission to stay here, for I thought Olaf’s. 
new game was something wonderful, he made 
such a fuss about it when he ran to my room to 
persuade me to agree to his plan. Then, when 
we were alone, he said: ‘I have a short story to 
tell you first. Our old isvostchik, who has been 
with us so many years, has got dismissed to-day 
for getting drunk. He has often been drunk, 
and he was told that if he did it once more he 
would lose his place. Old Hans, who is a Ger- 
man, knew the penalty of offending again, and 
he was always troubled with what he called the 
Katzen jammer after he had been tipsy. But 
this seemed to make no difference. He got tipsy 
yesterday, and couldn’t drive the carriage when 
mother wanted to go out in the afternoon. So 
he was packed off about his business, in dis- 
grace. How don’t you think. Feo, that it must 


170 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

be delightful to get drunk? If it were not, do 
you think a poor man would risk so much for the 
sake of drinking vodki? I’m sure he wouldn’t, 
so I’m determined to try what it feels like to be 
tipsy, and I want you to share the fun. We’ll 
pretend to be two friends, who haven’t seen each 
other for a long time, and we’ll keep inviting 
each other to have a drink with us. ’ 

“ ‘But suppose it makes us have the Katzen- 
jammer after it?’ 

“ ‘Oh, then we have only to take a little 
drop more vodki, and then we shall be better 
again. ’ 

“So at last I agreed and Olaf reached a decan- 
ter and some glasses out of a sideboard, and we 
made ourselves tipsy. It was great fun, too, for 
we grew quite jolly, and we danced, and we 
sang for ever so long. Then Olaf fell asleep on 
the floor, and I came to bed. I don’t know 
whether Olaf wakened up or not when they came 
to fetch him. And it isn’t half so jolly as I 
thought it would be. My head aches awfully, 
and I’m never going to get drunk again.” 

Now was it very wrong of me to be so stricken 
with laughter that I found it necessary to turn 
away to hide my emotion? I’m afraid a strict 
moralist would hardly approve of my behavior, 
and I must have felt some twinges of conscience, 
or I would not have tried so hard to recover a 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


171 


stern demeanor. Finally, I succeeded, and drew 
such a picture of future horrors, that would ce>- 
tainly be the consequence of indulgence in a taste 
for strong drink, that Feo was almost frightened 
out of her wits and was not likely to transgress 
again in a hurry. Of -course I tabooed the idea 
of giving her any more of the pernicious stuff 
which had made her ill. As Trischl appeared 
to know all about the matter, I purchased her 
silence by the gift of a silver rouble, which she 
received with many manifestations of satisfac- 
tion. Then I ordered some hot extract of beef 
to be brought for Feo, advised her to lie still for 
an hour or two, and went to the morning-room 
in search of madame. 

I found her looking somewhat disturbed. She 
always had a surprising amount of letters, see- 
ing that she was a private individual. I had 
once or twice offered to take some of the fatigue 
of correspondence off her hands. But to this 
she would never consent. Indeed, I never even 
saw the addresses of the letters she sen4; away, 
as might have been the case had she cared to 
trust me with the duty of writing them down to 
her dictation. There was much that was mys- 
terious in her way of receiving and dispatching 
her postal communications, and she was so good- 
natured with me on every other point that I 
knew she must have a good and sufficient reason 


172 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


for keeping me aloof in this respect. On this 
particular morning one of her letters had brought 
her tidings which necessitated a sudden change 
of plans on her part. As had been the case 
when in London, she left home for a few days, 
scarcely allowing herself time to have a small 
portmanteau packed, and giving us not the 
slightest idea of where she was going or how 
long she would be away. I was told that she 
depended upon me to take her place in the house- 
hold as far as possible, but specific directions she 
had not time to give me. 

That afternoon, I was writing a letter to Mrs. 
Q-arth, when Feo came into my room. 

“I wish you would take me for a drive, Dora,” 
she said. “My headache has nearly gone, and 
I believe fresh air would cure it altogether.” 

So I put my half-finished letter on one side, 
ordered the carriage, and prepared myself to go 
out with Feo. We both enjoyed the drive, and 
as I was still fresh to many of the sights of St. 
Petersburg, there was plenty of subject matter 
for conversation. 

On arriving home again, I repaired at once to 
my own room, as I was anxious to finish the let- 
ter which I had begun to write to Mrs. Garth. 
I took the key of my room door out of my pocket. 
As I did not want the prying eyes of any of the 
servants to glance over my correspondence, I had 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


173 


taken the precaution of locking my door instead 
of putting my papers into my desk again. * 

I was somewhat surprised to find that the door 
was not locked, after all, and thought for a mo- 
ment that I might have been mistaken as to 
having turned the key. But no. Reflection 
convinced me that there- had been no mistake. 
I distinctly remembered that, after taking the 
key out of the lock, I had tried the door-handle. 
It would not yield to my touch. Therefore, the 
door had been locked. It was not locked when 
I returned. It was evident, then, that it had 
been tampered with during my absence. But 
who could have taken such an unwarrantable 
liberty? The question puzzled me, until I re- 
called to mind a figure I had seen on the stairs 
as I came up. It was the figure of a man whom 
I had not seen before, but who was walking 
leisurely downstairs, as if he felt assured of a 
safe and familiar footing in the house. 

• Who, or what could he be? 

A servant in the house? 

I thought not. 

What then, a spy? 

At the mere thought of being subject to the 
government espionage of which I had heard so 
much my limbs trembled under me and I fairly 
gasped for breath. I thought of May Morris 
and her gruesome predictions, and the wildest 


174 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

consternation seized me as I wondered if I had 
written anything that could compromise me. 
Had my letter to Mrs. Garth been overhauled? 
I must ascertain, if possible. I examined my 
blotting case and papers. They did not look as 
if they had been disturbed. I was putting them 
down again, half-reassured, when I perceived the 
faint impress of what must have been a dirty 
thumb on the edge of the sheet of note-paper on 
which I had been writing. I disclaimed the 
idea of having soiled the paper myself; but re- 
solved to apply a test, in order to be quite sure. 

Taking another sheet of paper, and wetting 
my right thumb with ink, I lightly grasped the 
paper between my thumb and forefinger, leaving 
upon it a slight mark. Then, taking a magnify- 
ing-glass from the table, I observed the two 
marks with its aid. The veinings on them were 
totally different. I had not soiled the half-writ- 
ten letter. A spy had been in my room. Could 
it be that trouble was in store for me, and that I 
had already fallen under the ban of suspicion? 

Madame was away a week. When she re- 
turned, I was struck by the anxious expression 
of her face and still more by the evident effort 
with which she strove to be her old bright self. 

“Are you not well?” I asked her, feeling 
considerable solicitude on her behalf. 

“Quite well, Dora. Only a little tired after 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


1.75 


traveling. Tell me, has anything notable oc- 
curred during my absence?” \ 

“There have been several callers.” 

“Were the Prince and Princess Michaelow 
here?” 

“Yes. They came on Thursday, and took 
Feo and myself for a drive. We spent a very 
pleasant afternoon. Feo is spending the day 
with them again.” 

“And Count Karenieff. Has he been here?” 

“No.” 

“Ah! I thought so! I must be on my guard 
against him. Is that all you have to tell me?” 

“There is something else. But I am not sure 
that it is worth mentioning, or that the circum- 
stances warrant the uneasiness they have caused 
me.” 

“For Heaven’s sake ! tell me all there is to tell. 
You little dream all there may be at stake.” 

“I am convinced that there is a spy in the 
house. Hush — what was that?” 

As I uttered the last words, I sprang to my 
feet, and ran toward a large portiere, which 
seemed to me to have moved while I was speak- 
ing. The door behind the portiere was open, 
and I was just in time to see the figure of a man 
disappear round an angle of the great corridor 
into which all the rooms on this floor opened. 
When I turned and faced madame again, after 


176 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

carefully shutting the door, I saw that she was 
deadly pale, and that she was literally shaking 
with nervous apprehension. I hastily gave her 
a glass of wine, which she just as hastily drank, 
and then sat looking at me with a mute question 
in her startled eyes. 

“A man has just run away from this door. 
He has been listening,’ ’ I whispered, feeling as 
if the raising of my voice might bring ruin on 
the unnerved woman of whom I had already 
grown fond. Then I rapidly related how I had 
been driven to the conclusion that the house was 
under espionage. 

“Was there anything in the letter that could 
be construed as matter of a mischievous tend- 
ency?” madame asked anxiously. 

“Nothing whatever,” was my confident reply. 
“I had merely said that my life in St. Peters- 
burg was being made very pleasant, and that I 
had met a great number of very nice people. 
After I discovered that my correspondence had 
been overlooked, I destroyed the letter and re- 
solved not to dispatch another in its place until 
I had consulted you. On Thursday I wrote 
out a page from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost,’ and 
left it, together with my blotting-book and writ- 
ing materials, on the escritoire in this room. 
When I examined the things on my return, I 
found that the page of poetry and the top layer 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 177 

of blotting-paper out of my blotter had disap- 
peared. Ah — that door is opening! ” > 

The door, which slid on noiseless hinges, was 
quite concealed by the portiere, but a very slight 
motion imparted to the latter by the incoming 
draught had not escaped my watchful attention, 
and the spy, whoever he was, was baffled again 
for a time, for madame sprang up, and drew the 
large curtains to one side, so that it was impos- 
sible for the door to be moved again without our 
being aware of it. To make assurance doubly 
sure, we slid the bolts that were on the inside. 
Then we explored the room which opened out of 
the large morning- room in which we had been 
sitting. We soon satisfied ourselves that no- 
body was there, and then, after locking the doors 
of that room also, to prevent unwarranted in- 
trusion, we sat down to discuss the matter more 
fully. 

“Dora,” said madame, “just reach me my 
desk, will you?” 

Willingly I obeyed, and then the desk was 
carefully overhauled by its owner, who became 
still more agitated when she failed to discover 
certain papers of which she was in search. 

“Iam lost!” she said despairingly. “I have 
been mad to keep those letters. And yet, how 
could I destroy them, when they were as life it- 
self to me ! My God ! have I been too late, after 


178 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

all? Is he already in the hands of those cursed, 
bloodthirsty devils? Holy Mother of God! save 
me from going mad!” 

My own bewilderment and alarm were mo- 
mentarily increasing, but I used my best en- 
deavors to soothe the distracted woman at my 
side. 

“For pity’s sake!” I implored, “be calm. To 
lose your self-control may help to bring about 
the very disaster you fear. And think of Feo. 
She will still claim your attention, whatever 
may be the demands upon your fortitude.” 

“My darling Feo! God help her, if anything 
befalls me, for those ravening wolves, my 
enemies, will have scant mercy upon the child of 
a suspect. Dora, can I trust you? Dare I put 
my secrets in your keeping?” 

“God helping me, I will do all I can for you.” 

“I believe you. Now listen.” 

Madame Kaminski spoke in a low voice, but 
with a painful concentration of purpose and a 
nervous clasping and unclasping of her hands 
which could only be the result of extreme agita- 
tion and dread. 

“Listen,” she said once more. “I belong to 
a family which has given- many martyrs to the 
cause of freedom, and from my earliest youth I 
was taught to hate that merciless Juggernaut,the 
Russian autocracy, with all its vile ramifica- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 179 

tions of pillage and murder. Pah! Curse it! 
What does government do for us? It revels in 
luxury and splendors drained from the life-blood 
of millions of groaning victims. It grinds the 
people into nothingness as remorselessly as the 
millstones crush the wheat with which they are 
fed. But the day will come when even that 
mighty thing of evil will be numbered among 
the curses of the past, and when wealth and 
happiness are no longer all absorbed by the thin 
crust of society, while all beneath it is one mass 
of rotten, seething corruption and misery. They 
talk of hell ! What hell could display sufferings 
equal to those which have been endured by my 
people? What hell could, be big enough to hold 
all the accursed wretches who have for ages 
helped to trample out the lives and souls of a 
vast nation?” 

“Madame! madame!” I whispered, in -re- 
newed alarm. “Think how dreadful it will be 
if you are overheard!” 

“Why, yes,” she said, sinking her voice 
again. “I believe I must be mad! And is it 
not enough to drive one mad, to see the down- 
fall of all one’s hopes; the failure of all one’s 
plans ; the utter hopelessness of trying to rescue 
even one unit among all these millions from the 
remorseless fate which an iron autocracy metes 
out for it? Where are now all my struggles? 


180 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

Lost! Wasted! Gone! Crashed by the foal 
harpies who bloat themselves on the miseries 
of others! 

“But I forget that you do not yet lmow my 
history. Listen. I will tell it to you.” 


CHAPTER VIII. 

“ Brave hearts and willing hands may foil even Satan 
himself.” 

“I had, ” continued madame, “father, mother, 
sister, and two brothers, all of whom were sacri- 
ficed to the Moloch of oppression. My father’s 
estates were confiscated, and his castle was 
handed into the possession of his betrayer, to 
whom was also given a title, and who was hence- 
forth known as Count Karenieff. I, a babe in 
arms, was surely spared in fiendish irony of pur- 
pose, and was consigned to the care of a child- 
less couple in St. Petersburg, who had strict in- 
junctions to bring me up as their own offspring, 
and who, in consideration of the small income 
they received with me, kept the secret of my 
birth until I was nineteen. Then Paul Galtioff 
died, and his wife Marie, having confidence in 
my discretion, and a premonition that her own 
end was not far off, showed me my true voca- 
tion. She told- me of all that my relatives had 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


181 


suffered, and how my mother had been subjected 
to imprisonment, torture, the lash and personal 
degradation because she would say nothing that 
would incriminate my father. I have often 
since heard of the horrors of St. Peter and Paul. 
In your country they speak with bated breath of 
banishment to Siberia as the extreme compass of 
human suffering. We know that it is the one 
ray of hope which gleams before the eyes of those 
who are denounced. Complete freedom will never 
be theirs again, but there are gradations in even 
the lowest ruts of misery, and I would pray for 
the devil himself to be saved from the anguish 
endured by those condemned to the fortress. 

' “What wonder that, thinking of all these 
things, I should pant for vengeance, and that I 
should devote all my future energies to foiling 
some of the plots against my compatriots ! But 
Marie Galtioff infused in me some of her own 
caution and cunning. Both she and her husband 
had belonged to revolutionary societies for years 
without once exciting suspicion of their loyalty. 
Henceforth I derived my chief satisfaction in 
hoodwinking our oppressors. I habitually met 
kindred spirits, among them being Feodar Ko- 
minski, who afterward became my husband. 
Perhaps it was well for him that death claimed 
him soon after Feo was born. His spirit was too 
ardent to have worked in the dark much longer. 


182 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

“For some years after I became a widow I 
supported myself in various ways. Then my 
opportunity came from a quarter least expected. 
A member of our society, who possessed great 
influence at court, where he was supposed to be 
one of the most loyal supporters of the throne, 
was asked to recommend some lady who would 
make an efficient government spy. He nomi- 
nated me for the office. The pay was on a 
princely scale. The social advantages attending 
the post were great. There was no circle deemed 
too high for my entry into it on apparent terms 
of equality with the most exclusive. My cre- 
dentials were indisputable, and my own conver- 
sational ability did the rest. I became a general 
favorite in society, and might have been happy, 
could I but have faithfully performed the day’s 
duty for which I was paid. My employers gave 
me every opportunity of spying and denouncing 
suspected persons. I denounced a good many 
when I saw that their discovery by others was 
inevitable. But I always contrived to let them 
have sufficient warning to escape before the bolt 
fell. I was doing good work for my people, 
under the mask of an alien to patriotism. Above 
all, I was occupying a place which will soon, I 
fear, be occupied by a substitute whose aims and 
aspirations will not be as mine have been. 

“When I was in St. Petersburg in the early 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 183 

spring, Count Karenieff, the son of my father’s 
old enemy, was introduced to me, and I found it 
a terribly difficult matter ta be civil to him. It 
was, however, necessary that I should curb the 
anger which his very name aroused in me. But 
when the caitiff’s whelp actually dared to pro- 
pose marriage to me, my scorn and hatred over- 
stepped the bounds of prudence, and my rejec- 
tion was so fierce as to astonish him. 

“ ‘I see, madame,’ he said, his face glittering 
with the evil with which his heart is full to 
bursting. ‘ I understand you better than you 
understand yourself. You see in me a man of 
strong feeling, and you think it necessary to use 
strong words with me, in order to drive me from 
my purpose. But I tell you that your beauty 
has aroused my passions, and I will gratify 
them even though you raised ten thousand ob 
jections. You are so unnecessarily vehement 
that I conclude you have a more favored lover. 
One, moreover, who resembles me not at all. 
And you think to marry him? I swear you 
shall marry none but me! Nay, if you do not 
beware, I will bring that about which shall make 
you turn to me for help, which shall make you 
only too happy to throw yourself into my arms 
and yield yourself to my embraces. As for your 
lover, I shall find him, and I shall silence him, 
never fear. His golden hair shall turn gray 


184 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


with horror, and his blue eyes shall become dim 
with anguish. ’ 

“ ‘He has neither golden hair nor blue eyes,’ I 
cried, trembling with the awe the man’s fierce 
words evoked. 

“‘Thank you,’ was his reply. ‘I thought 
that, as you seemed so disgusted with my pro- 
posal, your inamorato must be my antithesis. 
How I am sure of it. If it had not been so, you 
would have been glad to permit me to retain an 
erroneous opinion. Good-day, madame. Per- 
haps, when next we meet, you will have become 
wiser. ’ 

“With this the viper left me, and I sat bereft 
of all my usual fortitude. For I knew him to 
be capable of as much villainy as his father 
before him, and I had practically betrayed 
Victor Karniak to him; for his instinct had led 
him to form a correct idea of the appearance of 
my intended husband. That he would hound 
him down, I had no doubt. But I was not so 
paralyzed by Karenieff’s threats as to hesitate 
long about what I must do. 

“That night I attended a meeting which was 
held by Nihilists not far from here. I had -diffi- 
culty in reaching the place unobserved, and, 
carefully disguised, I saw Karenieff and two of 
his myrmidons watching my house. I explained 
the impossibility of my further attendance at the 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


185 


meetings for some time, as my presence might 
lead to the discovery and betrayal of my associ- 
ates. There were those among them who swore 
that, if there must be a victim, it should be 
Karenieff himself. I would have rejoiced any 
time since then to have heard of the removal of 
the pestiferous carrion; but he bears a charmed 
life, or, rather, he is too well aware of his danger 
to go anywhere unguarded, for he has denounced 
too many people not to fear vengeance from 
some quarter. 

“Victor Karniak was persuaded to leave St. 
Petersburg for a time, and it was considered 
wisest for u& not to meet again until we could 
do so with more safety. 

“I was sent to England, on what was deemed 
important business, soon after this, and hoped 
that KareniefPs mischievous intentions were 
rendered impossible of achievement. Mean- 
while Victor, having been imprudently active in 
Odessa, narrowly escaped capture by shipping 
as a common seaman on board a steamer, in 
place of a drunken sailor who had fallen over- 
board. In due time he reached London. We 
found means of meeting, and have been married 
in an English registry office. 

“But we dared not return together, and I 
dared not delay my own return, as I had much 
information to give concerning many Russians 


186 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

who have escaped to England, some of them 
with Victor’s help and mine. They are safe 
where they are, and will assuredly never return 
to Russia, having been warned of what they 
might expect; so I feel no twinges of conscience 
because I have convinced the government be- 
yond doubt that they are out of Russian terri- 
tory and beyond Russian jurisdiction. 

“My husband, anxious to be near me some- 
times, and having considerable property which 
he wishes to realize, if possible, followed me 
here. He was at the Princess Michael ow’s re- 
ception, and though we were studiedly cool to 
each other, I once saw Karenieff looking at us 
with such an appearance of malicious conviction 
on his face that I felt sure he suspected our 
secret. Victor, who had been called by an alias 
in Odessa, believed himself to be recognized, and 
would have tried to leave the country again, but 
was taken ill and has been unable to quit his bed 
for more than a week. I have been with him 
the greater part of the time, and he is only since 
yesterday strong enough to rise and dress him- 
self. This morning I saw him, disguised as an 
old peddler, and armed with a license and pass 
which a friend had procured for him, start on a 
journey, every inch of which is fraught with 
danger of detection and death. God grant that, 
shaken as he is with his recent illness, he may 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 187 

find himself once more in your land of freedom 
ere long. 

“But I fear, I fear! For my enemy has been 
active. He has been missing from his usual 
haunts, and has been trying to discover my hus- 
band’s whereabouts. This I have been told by 
the people who, on my behalf, have been watch- 
ing Karenieff. He did not come here to seek me, 
because he knew I was not here. That he has 
not known exactly where I was, I can but hope, 
for the sake of Victor and the friends who have 
helped us. But that he has already denounced 
me as a traitor and Nihilist I was told to-day on 
my way here. I would not have entered the 
house again, but would have tried to escape, 
had I had means of travel with me. ' Besides, I 
could not, in any case, have left Feo. Had I 
done so, my child would surely have fallen under 
the vengeance of those who have gloatingly 
crushed out the lives of other innocent children. 

“I had hoped to get away under cover of 
night, but alas! what you have told me since I 
came home has served to convince me that I am 
•already too closely watched to be permitted to 
escape. Dora, my friend, help me, for the love 
of God ! for I already feel, in anticipation, all 
the horrors of the fortress, and I can no longer 
plan clearly.” 

All this had been spoken in a voice too low to 


188 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

penetrate as far as the door, but clear enough 
for me, whose head was bent close to madame’s, 
to distinguish every word of it. For a few mo- 
ments I could only continue to gaze at my friend 
in blank dismay. Then, as certain possibilities 
presented themselves before my mental vision, 
I clasped my hands angrily, and exclaimed: 
“Great Heaven! why am I not tall and beauti- 
ful, when so much size and beauty is wasted on 
people who do not know how to use it?” 

Recalling that time, I am not surprised at the 
change my apparently irrelevant lament wrought 
in Madame Kominski’s demeanor. She sprang 
to her feet, and fairly hissed at me in her wrath: 
“Fool! fool that I have been, to imagine my 
troubles could really interest a comparative 
stranger! I betray all my secrets to you, and 
implore your aid, and only succeed in evoking 
from you a lamentation concerning your own 
lack of beauty. God! what small minds there 
are in this world!” 

“Madame,” I cried, springing to my feet in 
my turn, “you mistake me. I am devoted to 
you, and will do anything to help you. I ex- 
pressed myself clumsily, but I meant to say that 
if I were more like you I would change places 
with you. As it is, the plan is hopeless. But 
we will think of something else. God is not al- 
ways on the side of the mighty.” 


ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 189 

As I spoke, I put my arms round madame 
and kissed her affectionately. The revulsion of 
feeling produced in her mind by my words and 
actions broke the intense strain under which she 
had labored, and she embraced me convulsively, 
a perfect storm of sobs shaking her frame. I 
strove as best I could with my own emotion and 
let madame cry v on. I knew it would do her 
good. Presently she grew calmer, and after 
a while her sobs cer_d altogether. 

“I am better now,” she said. “I feel as if a 
great cloud were rolled from my brain. I can 
think and plan once more. My mother, they 
say, had the courage of a martyr. If I fall, 
my enemies shall not gloat over my cowardice. 
Suppose we open the doors again. It is not wise 
to show a spy that we fear him.” 

I had just opened the door, and put the por- 
tiere into its usual position, when Trischl, the 
German nurse, came to see her mistress. She 
walked into the room without invitation, but 
preserved nevertheless her usual respectful de- 
meanor. “I believe madame needs friends,” 
she said in a low, cautious voice. “I have seen 
that which makes me think so. Madame has 
been good to me. If she will not be angry at 
my presumption, I will be her faithful helper.” 

As Trischl ceased speaking, she looked at her 
mistress anxiously, as if half afraid of reproof. 


190 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

But of that she met none, and the friendly clasp 
of the hand with which madame tried to show 
her appreciation of the risk the faithful creature 
was running in offering to help a suspect was to 
her a seal of allegiance. For a little while we 
deliberated together, forming and rejecting one 
plan after another. Presently an unusually vig- 
orous peal at the visitor’s bell nrnde itself heard 
even here, where the sonorous reverberations 
seldom penetrated. 7, r : nil turned pale and the 
same unspoken question was in all our eyes: “Is 
the enemy already upon us? Is it too' late to 
escape?” Even evils are welcomed at times, 
when they come in the place of a still more 
dreaded one, and we were all positively relieved 
when a footman presently came to ask madame 
if she would see Count Karenieff in the 
salon. 

“Tell him I will see him immediately,” said 
madame. Instinctively both Trischl and I knew 
what should be done, and we hastened to bathe 
madame’s face with eau-de-cologne, to brush her 
hair, to alter her toilet a little, and to give to her 
face the appearance of quiet composure by means 
of a little powder and rouge. The results were 
arrived at quickly. The effect was good, and 
madame’s bearing and appearance, as she went 
down to interview her mortal enemy, were the 
reverse of those of a betrayed and despairing 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


191 


woman, who anticipated a horrible fate in the 
near future. 

“Temporize with him,” I had counseled while 
hurriedly assisting with her toilet. “ Feign 
ignorance of his cruel intentions. If he asks 
you again to marry him, do not insult him, but 
seem as if you had altered your opinion of him. 
Ask him to give you a day to deliberate. It 
would be so much time gained for us.” 

The nod of comprehension with which she 
left us showed that she considered my advice 
to be good, and I felt more hopeful of the result 
of the interview between the courageous woman 
and the dastardly man than I could have be- 
lieved possible half an hour before. 

“And now,” said Trischl, “there is no time to 
be lost. There are spies in the house. But we 
can be as clever as spies, if we like, and we must 
prepare things for madame’s departure as soon 
as possible. All her jewelry must be hidden 
somehow, so that she can easily carry it away.” 

I felt that Trischl was right, and that a des- 
perate emergency like this was not the time to 
stand on ceremony. Fifteen minutes later a 
strange face peeped in at the open door for a 
moment. We were both diligently employed. 
To all appearances we were both innocently 
employed. Trischl was quilting some silk, of 
which she purposed making a kind of cuff, to 


192 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

be tied above the elbows. I was indulging in 
the prosaic occupation of mending a pair of 
corsets. Could the fellow who had glanced at 
us have seen that a pile of jewelry lay under- 
neath the aprons Trischl and I had donned, he 
would perhaps have been slightly surprised. 
Had he had a suspicion that I had just stitched 
a parure of diamonds into the corset, and that 
Trischl was quilting the silk over a beautiful 
pearl necklace, he might perhaps have thought 
it advisable to report the occurrence to his 
superiors. As it was, he passed on, in blissful 
ignorance of our real occupation, and it was 
certainly not our business to enlighten him. 

“Here is madame,” said Trischl presently; 
and I looked anxiously at Madame Kominski, to 
see if I could tell the result of the interview 
from her bearing. Trischl rose hastily to her 
feet, seemingly overwhelmed with confusion at 
having been caught occupying her mistress’s 
seat. She had forgotten that her quilting task 
was not finished, and some valuable rings rolled 
across the floor, the incident evoking a little 
surprise in the mind of their owner. But while 
Trischl hurriedly tried to recover the runaways, 
I explained what we had been doing. 

“What a clever idea!” said madame. “I 
should never have thought of such capital hid- 
ing-places myself. If I manage to quit Russia, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


193 


I shall probably be in great need of money, and 
will be glad to realize the value of the jewelry.” 

“I hope things are not so desperate as we 
have feared , 5 ’ I hazarded. 

“You shall judge, ” was the reply. “Karenieff 
was evidently prepared to find me more antago- 
nistic to him than I showed myself, and I think 
my bearing convinced him that my suspicions 
concerning him were not aroused. 

“ ‘I am sorry to have kept you waiting,’ I 
said, ‘but the truth is, I was busy with my toilet 
and could not come before.’ 

“He cast upon me a swift look of surprise, 
and then, apparently much gratified by the ci- 
vility of my reception of him, dosed me with a 
few compliments, adding that he hoped I had 
forgotten the wild, foolish words he had uttered 
to me months ago. I actually found it possible 
to laugh, as I remarked in my turn : ‘ Ah, yes ! 
We all alter our opinions of things as time goes 
on. I have learned to esteem where I once de- 
spised; and you — you, no doubt, take things 
more coolly than you did.’ 

“ ‘My love for you has not grown cooler,’ he 
exclaimed. ‘Consent to marry me, and I will 
secure you immunity from trouble in the future. ’ 

“ ‘Marry you ! Is it possible you still wish me 
to become your wife?’ 

“ ‘It is not merely my wish. It is the one 


194 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


passion of my life! Say you will be mine, au^ 
remove my suspense. ’ 

“ ‘I do not know,’ I said, pretending to hesi- 
tate. ‘You see, I hardly thought you would 
favor me again with a proposal, after my former 
rudeness to you.’ 

“ ‘The woman who hesitates is lost! Have 1 
really supplanted my fair- haired rival?’ 

“‘Bah! Fair men are so insipid.’ 

“ ‘So they are. But you will not find me in- 
sipid, my beauty. I hate, or I love, to madness, 
and either passion finds in me an ardent votary. 
It is well you have chosen me for your lover 
rather than for your enemy, since I have more 
power than you dream of.’ 

“ ‘Indeed!' I did not know that you had any 
special vocation. You said just now that mar- 
riage with you would bring me immunity from 
trouble. I do not see how that can be, since we 
all have our troubles; but I wish it were true.’ 

“ ‘It shall be true. Listen. You are in the 
pay of the government. The private fortune 
you are supposed to have is non-existent. I 
know exactly what is paid you, since my posi- 
tion in the secret service is so high as to be one 
upon which devolves the regulation of these little 
things. With one stroke of my pen I can make 
or mar many a life that fancies itself secure 
at this moment. Now, information has been 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


195 


brought to me that you, so far from being a 
faithful servant of the Crown, .are in league 
with those vagabond Nihilists. As my wife, 
you shall be proved innocent. As my enemy, 
you would be crushed. Which is it to be?’ 

“I believe I acted my part very well. I was 
overcome by sudden terror. I clung to the man. 
I wept and implored him to save me. I prom- 
ised to marry him as soon as he liked. I suf- 
fered him to embrace me. His kisses, hot, pas- 
sionate and scathing, have been showered on my 
face and lips. I have listened to burning words 
which have made me ashamed of my woman- 
hood. Had I alone been concerned, I would 
have died rather than have undergone the hu- 
miliation of the last half hour. But there is 
Feo and Victor. For their sakes I must escape 
from this accursed country.” 

“And you shall escape,” said Trischl, with 
decision. “I think I know how it can be man- 
aged.” In another moment she had left us, 
hurrying away as if struck by a fresh idea, 
while madame and I eyed each other anxiously. 

“Has he gone?” I asked. 

“For a time. I believe he has gone to stop 
extreme proceedings against me. But the relief 
will be only momentary. I should go mad if I 
had to endure his caresses often, and he may at 
any moment discover that I am already married. 


196 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


His vengeance would then be more terrible than 
ever.” 

4 4 It is not to be thought of. We must act at 
once.” 

4 4 Here is Ivan Dromireff, madame,” said 
Trischl’s voice. 44 1 met him on the staircase.” 

Both madame and I looked at the new arrival 
with surprise. He turned out to be none other 
than her coachman, and he stood bowing awk- 
wardly, the while holding out a note between 
fingers that were much less clumsy than his 
vocation would have led one to imagine them 
to be. 

44 A letter from Prince Michaelow,” he said 
quietly. 

“How is it that it has not been sent up in tha 
usual way?” inquired madame sharply, receiv- 
ing for answer a word of which I could not catch 
the meaning, but which wrought a great change 
in madame’s behavior. 

“Sit down,” she said eagerly, “while I read 
the note. And you, Trischl, secure the door 
against intruders, and wait here until we decide 
what is best to be done.” 

Trischl, having obeyed her mistress’s order, 
came and stood beside Ivan. It struck me that 
the footing upon which they stood was a very 
familiar one, for they smiled at each other in 
quite an affectionate manner. Meanwhile, ma- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 197 


dame’s proceedings were somewhat curious. 
She opened the note, upon which were merely 
written a few lines to the effect that Feo was 
enjoying herself and would remain for the night 
where she was. Then she took from her pocket 
a bunch of keys and unlocked a small medicine 
chest. From this she took two phials, each con- 
taining a colorless fluid. Her next proceeding 
was to fetch a small china tray from a side- 
table. Into this she emptied the two phials. 
When the liquids were thoroughly mixed, she 
immersed the note in them and let it remain a * 
few seconds. When she lifted it out of the tray 
again, it was seen to be closely covered with 
writing, some kind of sympathetic ink having 
been used which had required acids to develop 
it. This is what was written on the note : 

“My Friend — Our cause is lost. We are be 
trayed. Nothing but prompt flight can save us. 
Count Karenieff has much in his power. If you 
can dupe him for a while it will be well. Vic- 
tor will elude his enemies, I think. I have long- 
feared this day, and have been prepared for it. 
Ivan will give you a pass that will be of good 
service to you. But it must be used to-night. 
To-morrow every departure from the city will be 
closely watched. By the time you get this we 
shall be well on our way. Feo will go with us, 
and I trust we shall all arrive in England safely. 
You know the rendezvous. It will be better for 


198 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

you to be unencumbered by the child. I would 
advise your companion to get away, too, if she 
has helped you in a»y way. Ivan has already 
made his preparations. M.” 

After passing the note on to me to read it, 
madame asked Ivan if he were aware of its 
contents. 

“I know how we are all circumstanced,” he 
said promptly, “and what the prince told me 
will be something similar to what he has 
written.” 

In a low, rapid voice madame read the letter 
over for the benefit of Trischl and Ivan, who 
were now too much implicated to be excluded 
from confidence. Then she struck a match and 
burned the note and its envelope until they were 
entirely consumed. Meanwhile, I returned the 
acids to their receptacles, wiped the tray, and 
removed every trace of the chemical operation, 
giving madame the key of the medicine chest 
when I had done. 

“And now,” said Ivan, “for action.” A min- 
ute later he had divested himself of his overcoat, 
and had made himself much less stout by the re- 
moval of some clothes which he had had packed 
round his body. Then he coolly took off his big, 
bushy beard and mustache, and his tously black 
wig. Such a transformation as all this wrought 
in him ! He had seemed a rough specimen of 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


199 


humanity, not far removed from serfdom. He 
stood before us slim, erect, fair and smooth- 
faced, but bearing the witnesses of an indomi- 
table spirit in his determined mouth, no longer 
hidden by the disfiguring hair, in his fearless 
glance, and in his square jaw. 

“Now you know me; but no names, please,” 
he said warningly, as madame seemed about to 
exclaim aloud at sight of him. “The prince, 
having induced you to accept a certain position, 
has always been convinced of its danger, and 
has always been prepared with plans to rescue 
you. For this purpose, he recommended me to 
your notice as coachman, in order that no symp- 
toms of menace might escape your friends. I 
have seen that you have no more time to lose. 
Here is our passport. It is made out for August 
Kramer, a German mercantile agent ; Anna 
Kramer, his wife; Wilhelm Schwartz, commis- 
sion agent, and Karl Schwartz, son of the 
latter.” 

“But that will not do for us. We are three 
women, not three men,” said madame. 

“If circumstances do not fit us, we must fit 
ourselves to circumstances, and I think we can 
manage it,” said Ivan. “Trischl is my foster- 
sister, and will go with us, I know. She is 
big enough and strong enough to personate 
Schwartz, senior. You, madame, will have to 


200 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

figure as Herr August Kramer, while I will do 
my best to make you a suitable spouse. The 
young English lady will make a very nice boy. 
Here are some of the things you will require. 
Put on as many as will be hidden by .outer cloth- 
ing. Take the rest with you. In fifteen min- 
utes follow me. I will have the carriage wait- 
ing at the door. It shall contain a few neces- 
sary articles which will have to be put on in the 
carriage. You must give me your order to 
drive to one of the theaters. But be very care- 
ful. Some one is sure to be on the watch. We 
will drive away openly. As soon as we have 
driven off', draw the curtains and complete your 
disguise the best way you can. After a while I 
will stop the carriage. You must then get out, 
leaving nothing in the vehicle, and keeping 
your mantles well wrapped round you. Walk 
on a few yards until I join you. The horses will 
stand for some time, and I have a man ready to 
take them to a place agreed upon. It will not 
do for them to return home too soon, and it is 
just possible that we may need them. How I 
must be off.” 

Another minute, and he had replaced his beard 
and top-coat. Still a minute more, and we three 
women were trying to induct ourselves into gar- 
ments such as we had never been used to. In 
ten minutes we had stuffed our pockets full of 


A.D VENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


201 


wigs, beards, jewelry, papers, money and other 
etceteras. I had had time to run to my room 
and secure my own money and jewelry, as well 
as a large cloak and a hat. Everything else I 
must perforce leave behind. Trischl fetched her 
big cloak and bonnet, and went down to the car- 
riage a yard or two in front of us. Punctual to 
time, we stepped inside. Madame told Ivan to 
drive to the Alexander Theater. Ivan touched 
his hat obsequiously, mounted his box, cracked his 
whip, and we were started on our perilous journey. 

There was no loss of time among us, after we. 
drove off, for we knew that promptitude on our 
part was a matter of life and death. It was a 
somewhat cramped place in which to transform 
our appearance, but we had to make the best of 
the situation. With hurrying, trembling fingers 
we wrought at our disguise. Madame donned 
a tow-colored curly wig, beard, mustache and 
eyebrows, and exchanged her mantle and bonnet 
for a top-coat and slouch hat. Trischl adorned 
herself with a black beard something like Ivan 
wore, and likewise donned a rough overcoat, 
which she surmounted by a felt hat. I was not 
proud of my hair, anyway, so, seeing what 
trouble the others had in disposing of theirs 
under their wigs, I ruthlessly cut mine off with 
a pair of scissors I had brought with me for 
emergencies. It was surprising how small 


202 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


and slight a boy I seemed. It would be easy to 
pass me off as a fifteen-year-older. 

When we had done our best to transform our- 
selves into as presentable representatives of 
Messrs Kramer and Schwartz as was possible 
with our resources, we commenced strapping up 
the cloaks and hats, the latter being mercilessly 
crushed during the operation. We had barely 
completed our preparations when the carriage 
stopped and Ivan opened the door. 4 4 Now is 
our time,” he said hurriedly. 4 4 We shall barely 
catch the Cronstadt boat. Go toward the boat- 
landing. I will follow you in a minute.” 

Without another word we obeyed Ivan’s direct 
tions. We had almost reached the landing, 
when a fair-faced, rather good-looking woman 
grasped madame somewhat unceremoniously by 
the arm, and addressed her in the whining, ill- 
used tone which is the special prerogative of 
certain carping, dissatisfied wives. 

“I’m sure, August,” she said. “It’s easy to 
be seen that we’ve been married this six years 
and more. I have seen the time when you 
wouldn’t stalk on half a mile in front, leaving 
me to follow as best I could. But times are 
different now, and a man isn’t above making 
his wife carry his top-coat in these days. But I 
won’t stand it any longer. You may carry it 
yourself.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


203 


So great was the transformation that for an 
instant we did not see that it was Ivan who was 
personating the ill-used wife. As soon as she 
did become fully alive to this fact, madame took 
the top-coat on her arm, instinctively apologiz- 
ing for her apparent rudeness. 

“No, no, that will never do,” muttered Ivan. 
“You are far too polite. Keep up your role of 
a careless husband and growl harder at me than 
I growl at you — if you can. There must be no 
appearance of haste or anxiety to escape notice. 
Boldness is our best weapon. — Herr Schwartz, 
that son of yours looks too much like a girl — 
too quiet and shy. — Here, Karl, my boy, have a 
cigarette, and walk with a little more swagger 
— as if the place belonged to you. Take a peep 
at the pretty girls you pass, and be politely 
courteous, if any old ladies seem to need your 
services, — Herr Kramer, you are as fidgety 
about that hair of yours as if you were a 
woman. It is dangerous to appear too solicitous 
about your personal appearance. Now, all three, 
please. Follow whatever cue I may think it 
desirable to give you.” 

Thus grumbling, admonishing and advising, 
the pseudo Madame Kramer talked until we were 
close to the ticket- office, near which a goodly 
number of people were waiting to pay their 
fares, have their passports vised, and receive 


204 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


their tickets to go on board the river steamer 
which lay waiting for its living cargo. 

I am afraid that I must confess myself not 
nearly so brave as I had imagined I was, for, 
now that the crucial moment had come, I trem- 
bled in every limb; whereas the others, either 
more habituated to the exercise of courage, or 
more alive to the irretrievably fatal consequences 
of a false move on their part, walked up to the 
barrier as nonchalantly as if traveling by this 
route were a matter of daily occurrence with 
them. Fortunately for us, there was an unusu- 
ally large number of passengers, many of them 
being of the Jewish persuasion. Upon these 
the rancor of the officials seemed to concentrate 
itself, and while apparently well-to-do people 
were merely treated unceremoniously, the fol- 
lowers of Israel were harassed and insulted be 
yond patient endurance. Many of them had 
been prosperous, but had been hounded from 
their homes and driven to beggary by a cruel 
and rapacious tyranny that found ready helpers 
in its horde of greedy, money-grabbing, red- 
taped myrmidons. 

My heart ached for the sorrows of one miser- 
able couple, who were accompanied by six chil- 
dren, and who seemed to be bewildered by the 
insults, which arrogance in office heaped upon 
them. But I also felt especially grateful to 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 205 

them. For the officials had no time to spare to 
examine our passports with anything like care 
when there were so many downtrodden Jews 
upon whom to exercise their spleen. Thus it 
happened that without much fuss or questioning 
we soon found ourselves seated in the deck 
saloon, en route for Cronstadt, the second-class 
passengers being huddled forward, where they 
were not likely to be spoiled by the luxury of too 
much comfort or accommodation. 

I saw madame scan the other occupants of the 
saloon very searchingly. Perhaps she thought 
that her daughter was among them, and it was 
difficult to augur well or ill from the fact that 
she was not there. I wonder if ever any one 
watched the endless twistings and turnings of 
the Neva with more impatience than we did, or 
if any one ever longed more devotedly to get be- 
yond the oft-recurring view of St. Isaac’s golden 
dome. But even as times of joy have their end- 
ing, even so is the period of suspense and. danger 
never interminable, and we at last found our- 
selves close to Cronstadt. 

We had not considered it safe to talk about 
our position while sitting in the saloon or pacing 
the deck, lest we should be overheard and be- 
trayed. But we all felt breathless anxiety as we 
filed off the boat on to the landing-stage, holdr 
ing our tickets in readiness for the collector. 


206 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


Suppose we had been missed at St. Peters- 
burg! Suppose Karenieff, baffled and enraged, 
were already on our track! Suppose a wire had 
been sent here, conveying orders to detain and 
arrest us! 

Anticipation presented numberless possibili- 
ties, all of which, as we walked ashore without 
hindrance, seemed as if they were to be happily 
negatived by the reality. 


CHAPTER IX. 

“How fain are we to turn our backs on that which 
likes us not.” 

It struck me at the time as a remarkable coin- 
cidence that after walking about fifty yards we 
should come across a droschki, into which we 
all stepped, being driven away without a word 
of explanation to the driver, unless a peculiar, 
thrice-repeated nod by Ivan be considered suffi- 
cient explanation. 

It would be useless to pretend that our drive 
was in every respect a comfortable one. The 
droschki was, in the first place, so small that we 
had to sit on each other’s knees. And it was so 
shaky that we had to hold on to each other to 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 207 


avoid turning a somersault on to the roadway. 
But that was not the fault of the droschki. The 
ill-used vehicle was compelled to do duty as a 
sledge in winter. In summer the runners were 
unshiped and laid to rest for a few months, 
while the clumsy wheels were hauled out of their 
hiding-place and tied to the body of the droschki 
with ropes. When you take a carriage of this 
description, and drive it helter-skelter through 
streets paved with rough round cobble-stones, 
the result cannot be expected to be conducive 
to comfort. 

In my case, the miseries of that drive were 
intensified, as I was already feeling very sick, in 
consequence of having been rash enough to cap 
my first cigarette with a second one. But it was all 
in the interests of patriotism and freedom, and 
the memory of the sufferings of that day and. 
night has been wiped out by the recollection of 
their satisfactory ending. 

We had been driving, as nearly as I can re- 
member, about half an hour, having branched 
off from the streets into the public park known 
as Peter the Great’s Gardens, when our driver 
drew his horse up close to the edge of some dark, 
stagnant water. We were beside the new Mole. 
The last remnant of daylight was now gone, so 
far as it does go altogether in these latitudes in 
summer. B,ut we were quite able to see that in 


208 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

the huge basin before us lay hundreds of steam- 
ers of various nationalities, in one of which at 
least we hoped to find a haven of refuge. 

Seeing us get out of the droschki, several un- 
couth-looking boatmen, dressed in bright-colored 
print shirts, immediately importuned us to em- 
ploy them. After a little preliminary bargain- 
ing between them and. the droschki-d river, the 
two least villainous-looking boatmen were em- 
ployed to row our party to an English steamer 
named the Beacon. 

A liberal douceur was given to the driver by 
Ivan. We stepped into the gaudily-painted 
boat, carrying our scanty store of luggage with 
us; the men bent to their oars, and we were soon 
skimming the surface of the Mole, while the 
sounds of the droschki’s wheels died away in the 
distance. 

“Keep a sharp lookout, ” muttered Ivan in 
English. “These fiendish boatmen would brain 
us all, and pitch us into the water, if they 
thought that, by catching us unawares, they 
could land a few roubles and a watch or two. 
That sort of thing often happens, but none of 
the villains are e^er brought to book. They bolt 
off to their winter quarters as soon as they have 
done a stroke of that sort of business 1 , and when 
they come back in the next boating season the 
whole affair has been forgotten by the officials.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


209 


After this, I sat with my eyes glued on the 
boatmen, anxiously noting what a number of 
ships we had to pass before we reached the one 
we wanted, and wildly longing for the time 
when I could bid an eternal farewell to misery- 
haunted Russia. I supposed, the Beacon being 
in the inner Mole, the men would be rowing half 
an hour before they reached it. To me the time 
seemed an age ere we pulled up beside a black- 
looking steamer, and one of the men shouted 
“Ahoy!” to the watchman on deck. There was 
a speedy reply to the summons, three or four 
dark heads popping themselves over the side to 
have a look at us. There were no questions 
asked, and it almost seemed to me as if we had 
been expected, though one could not complain 
of the preparations for our reception being too 
elaborate. A rope-ladder hung from the ship’s 
side, and for a moment my heart sank within 
me, when I was told that this was the only 
means of boarding our ark of safety. 

Trischl confessed to me afterward that she al- 
most fainted at what seemed to her to be court- 
ing certain death. But we were both possessed 
by an even greater dread than that of falling 
back into the water, and nerved ourselves to ap- 
pear as “manly” and unconcerned as possible, 
lest our terror should betray how totally unused 
to our present surroundings we were. As for 


210 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

madame, she seemed to be endowed with super- 
human courage and calmness. 

In due course this fresh ordeal was over. The 
boatmen grasped the end of the ladder, which 
had wooden rungs, in order to steady it, and one 
by one we sampled its precarious footing, sway- 
ing from side to side with the motion of the 
boat, and sometimes being turned almost with 
our backs to the steamer before we reached the 
rail at the top. Here many hands were ready 
to seize ours, and to help us to descend the short 
ladder which led from the rail to the deck. It is 
contrary to all custom for a woman to be left to 
the last to come on board in this fashion, and 
Ivan, in spite of his assumed transposition into 
a member of the weaker sex, would fain have 
seen the supposed German merchant board the 
ship before him. This, however, would of a cer- 
tainty have roused the suspicions of the boatmen. 

So madame was left to give the boatmen their 
stipulated pay and to come on board unaided. 
The boatmen, knowing with what facility sea- 
farers usually mount these hanging ladders, 
pushed their boat off without further delay, and 
paid no more attention to the individual whom 
they left dangling in mid-air. Being thus un- 
ceremoniously thrown upon her own resources, 
madame exerted herself to secure a more stable 
footing, and when at last she stood upon the 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


211 


deck, shaking with sudden nervousness, I firmly 
believed that nothing short of a miracle had 
saved her from falling into the water. 

“Pray come down below at once,” said the 
voice of a man who- had taken an active part in 
our reception, and who proved to be the captain. 
“I began to be afraid that you would not save 
the tide. It will be high water in an hour, and 
there is nothing to hinder us from weighing 
and starting at once. We must pass out when 
the gates open. You will have to excuse the 
quarters to which I am compelled to consign you 
until we are out of Russian jurisdiction. We 
may possibly be boarded again by government 
officials before we are clear of the docks, and you 
must all be alike invisible and inaudible. So be 
perfectly still until I come down to you again. 
You will find some other refugees in the ship. 
They will help to make you comfortable. Take 
care! ” 

While the captain was talking, he had been 
leading us through the ship’s saloon; thence 
through the steward’s pantry to what he called 
the lazarette, whence we emerged, through a cun- 
ningly concealed sliding door, into an apartment 
that was so narrow that two stout peoplo could 
barely have passed each other in it, and so dark 
that the reader may reasonably excuse the mo- 
mentary panic which overcame me, when, before 


212 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


we had quite comprehended that we were at last 
at the end of our journey, we were pushed 
further into the passage-like space. Then the 
captain hurriedly left us to our own devices, and 
the door closed with a peculiar click which ad- 
vertised some patent spring action. 

We were doubtful what step to take next, and 
were so imbued with a sense of the deadly dan- 
ger that would attend any noise on our part, that 
for a few moments we dared neither move nor 
speak. It was a great relief when, in a few 
minutes, the captain returned with a scrap of 
candle — warranted to go out in five minutes. 

“Daren’t allow more. Might be seen,” he 
whispered, and then clicked the door after him. 

We eagerly availed ourselves of the dim light 
which had been put into Trischl’s hand to glance 
around our temporary prison, which eventually 
proved to have been contrived by means of 
double bulkheads, which traversed the ship from 
side to side, but were only two feet apart from 
each other. The reason for this economy of 
space will be obvious when it is remembered 
that the object of the shipbuilders had been the 
provision of a secret chamber of which the ex- 
istence was not to be even suspected by those not 
in the secret. 

* The long, narrow passage thus obtained was 
furnished with rugs and cushions, and such 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


213 


other means of comfort as the exigencies of space 
and practicability allowed. 

Bat we did not dwell long upon the view of 
our place of refuge, for we speedily caught sight 
of that which filled us with the liveliest joy. 

We had been enjoined to keep silent. Surely 
it would have been a superhuman task to refrain 
from a few exclamations of thankfulness at the 
surprise in store for us. For here were the 
Prince and Princess Michaelow, madame’s 
daughter Feo, and a fourth person whom we 
soon knew to be none other than Victor Karniak, 
my mistress’s newly- wedded husband. 

Surely tears, and sobs, and smiles, and ejacu- 
lations of gratitude were never more rapturously 
blended than in the small, stuffy hole in which 
we were all reunited! But prudence soon re- 
asserted itself, and ten minutes later a Russian 
spy might have listened at the door without 
hearing a sound from within. Yet a little while 
longer and we could hear the vibration of the 
screw. We had entered upon another phase of 
our adventurous journey. 

Excitement and danger are prone to make one 
forget or ignore bodily claims which weigh very 
seriously with us at other times. But when 
these unwonted stimulants are withdrawn, na- 
ture is apt to take a little revenge for the tem- 
porary slight put upon her. Thus it is not sur- 


214 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


prising that, the happy reunion of friends and 
relatives, being accomplished, the quartet of 
newest arrivals should become conscious of ex~ 
treme fatigue and of the need of some kind of 
refreshment. 

The latter was soon forthcoming. A larder 
at one end of the room we were in was stocked 
with a liberal supply of eatables and drinkables, 
and there were plenty of willing hands to serve 
us with a meal to which some at least of us did 
full justice. 

“And now, Miss Dora,” said Trischl, “the 
best thing we can do is to lie down and sleep for 
a while. Everybody else has much to talk over 
with friends, and we shall not be missed.” 

It was quite true. W e could, for a time, at ' 
least, be easily, perhaps gladly, spared. While 
traveling, and sharing mutual dangers, we had 
all seemed tolerably equal in our claims upon 
each other. The situation was altered now. 
Trischl was kindly and warmly welcomed. But 
her welcome was the one which generous em- 
ployers would naturally extend to a faithful ser- 
vant. I was treated in every respect as an 
equal, but was still conscious of the fact that I 
was not actually one of the family, as seemed to 
be the case with Ivan. That madame should 
appear all in all to her husband and child was 
natural. But that Ivan, whom I had admired 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


215 


while I thought him madame’s very humble as- 
sistant, should turn out to be none other than 
Count Sergius Volkhoffsky, the cousin and 
bosom friend of Prince Michaelow, was a great 
surprise to me. They all had much to talk 
about, or rather, to whisper about, for great cau- 
tion was necessary, and I felt no compunction in 
following Trischl’s advice. 

But it was long before I could sleep; for the 
motion of the vessel, combined with the unpleas- 
ant vibration of the screw, which seemed to be 
almost under me, soon made me feel sick again, 
and I underwent a period of intense but silent 
misery, too ill to lift my head, but not too ill to 
feel a fresh accession of terror every time the 
motion of the ship ceased. 

I did not know then that the coming out of 
dock of a merchant steamer is a tedious business 
which involves many fresh starts and stoppages, 
if collisions with quay walls or ships are to be 
avoided. Had I been aware of this fact, I 
should not have kept fancying that the Beacon 
had been detained by Russian government offi- 
cials, and that pursuers were about to discover 
our hiding-place. 

When at last sleep did visit me, it performed 
its work so effectually that on awaking I had no 
trace of fatigue or illness left. My cushions 
were at one end of our curious room, which was 


216 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

no wider than an ordinary bunk, and would 
hardly have permitted any-one to pass me with- 
out disturbing me. As it was, I had slept unin- 
terruptedly for hours, and was quite refreshed 
when I opened my eyes and saw that a lamp 
was casting its brightening rays around me. ; 
Trischl stood by my bedside, if such I can call 
it, 'smiling with joy, and holding in her hand a < 
cup of fragrant coffee. 

“I have brought you some coffee and a ham 
sandwich,” she said. “You may get up as soon 
as you like now, and come on deck when you 
have had some breakfast. We have left Russia 
behind us and have got rid of the Russian pilot. 
The captain says there is no more fear of pur- 
suit.” ~j 

This was joyful news indeed, and I lost no 
time in preparing myself to go on deck. 

“If you will follow me, miss,” said Trischl, 

“I will show you the berth that is to be yours 
till the end of the voyage. You will be able to 
wash and dress comfortably in it.” 

Even the little den to which I promptly betook 
myself was of somewhat circumscribed area, but 
it was as a very paradise to me, by reason of the 
delightful feeling of security which I felt as soon 
as I stepped into it. I soon discarded the rai- 
ment which had served me so well, and at once 
lost myself in the delight of making myself more 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


217 


suitably presentable. Every necessity seemed 
to have been foreseen and provided against, and 
I found an ample stock of clothing placed at my 
disposal. 

I was very glad that I no longer needed to 
masquerade in boy’s attire, and took especial 
delight in robing myself in a pretty pink morn- 
ing gown Trischl brought in for me. My hair 
afforded me some trouble, though. If I had 
been an ugly girl before, what must I be now? 
I thought. My little berth was lighted by a 
swing lamp, fixed to a bracket in the bulkhead. 
There was also a mirror hanging near the bunk. 
But I could not judge very well of my appear- 
ance, and it was with a sense of regret at the 
thought that my cropped hair negatived the ad- 
vantages of my pretty dress that I eventually 
followed Trischl into more airy and lightsome 
regions. 

I found the ship’s cabin well occupied. Ma- 
dame and her husband, together with the Prince 
and Princess Michaelow, being deep in consulta- 
tion concerning future arrangements. So I did 
not encroach long upon their time, but, after ex- 
changing pleasant greetings with them all, went 
on deck. Here Feo was having a merry time 
with Count Sergius Volkhoffsky. I am not sure 
that I wasn’t sorry to find that the latter was a 
grand sort of an individual, after all. I would 


218 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

much rather have been able to call him Ivan, 
especially as he looked so very handsome, now 
that he was dressed in a manner befitting his 
station, while I felt painfully conscious that I 
must be looking a bigger fright than ever. 

“Oh, Dora, I am glad you have come up at 
last,” exclaimed Feo, bounding affectionately 
toward me. “They would not let me wake you 
when the captain first came to tell us that it was 
safe enough for us* now. Isn’t the sea pretty? 
And isn’t this a jolly ship? And isn’t every- 
body in it jolly? And, ho, isn’t Sergius jollier 
than anything?” 

I have been told since that if my lips did not 
indorse the latter sentiment, my eyes did. But 
I must warn the reader that the individual who 
made the statement is not to be trusted with re- 
gard to anything he may say about me. For he 
is unduly prejudiced in my favor. The latter 
fact, when it was first brought home to me, 
came upon me as a huge surprise. I still feel 
surprise, when I* think of it, but am better ac- 
customed to it by this time. 

There was much to explain and to talk over 
concerning our recent flight, and, while Feo 
rambled hither and thither, in thorough enjoy- 
ment of the situation, I listened to the explana- 
tion of much that had seemed inexplicable to me. 
The whole party with which I had become so 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


219 


closely associated was of Nihilistic proclivities, 
and had been spending much energy and a great 
deal of money in facilitating the escape from 
Russia of such members of their fraternity as 
from time to time fell under the ban of sus- 
picion. It had, however, of late, struck them 
that the limit of their own safety had been 
spanned, and their flight had not been nearly so 
basty and unpremeditated as it had seemed to 
me, though Mm£. Karniak, as I must now call 
my employer, had been reluctant to recognize 
her own extreme peril. There was some special 
mission to perform, for which a considerable 
sum of money was still needed. Madame could 
only contribute her quota after handing in her 
report and receiving the check with which gov- 
ernment rewarded her imaginary services once a 
month. She resolved that once more, and only 
once more, she would run the risk of a return to 
St. Petersburg. 

She achieved her purpose, but narrowly es- 
caped. falling a victim to her patriotic zeal. 
Prince Michaelow, less sanguine than she, had 
foreseen her danger, and provided for her escape, 
his cousin having considered it by no means 
derogatory to his dignity to assume the role 
of a coachman for the nonce. The Princess 
Michaelow, or Nina, as she has since asked me 
to call her, had taken no active part in Nihilistic 


220 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

plans and consultations, and had been as genu- 
inely surprised at the sudden necessity for the 
flight to England as I had been, but was by no 
means downhearted at the prospect of having to 
spend the rest of her life in her own country. 
As for Mr. Victor Karniak, he had deemed it 
wisest to avoid the river steamer, and had not 
reached the Beacon much sooner than we had 

% 

done ourselves. 

Needless to say, the visit of the Beacon to 
Cronstadt was not the result of merely mercan- 
tile speculation, but of a thoroughly systema- 
tized plan of campaign, by which refugees in the 
secret had their escape from Russia facilitated. 
The vessel usually made four trips between En- 
gland and Cronstadt in the season, taking coals 
out from the Tyne, and returning with a mixed 
cargo of wheat, timber, and refugees, London 
being the discharging port. The after hold was 
docked of two feet of its legitimate length, this 
space being utilized for the hiding-place in which 
we had spent our first night on board. 

I used to imagine myself an ardent lover of 
nature. During this voyage I sometimes won- 
dered if I had turned Goth or Vandal. For I 
no longer took the all-absorbing delight in my 
surroundings that had hitherto accompanied me 
when among fresh and unconventional scenery. 
The ever-changing panorama of views of first 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


221 


one country and then another, alternated by the 
numerous islands which are dotted about the 
Baltic, would have aroused my enthusiasm at 
any other time. That they did not do so on this 
occasion must be laid to Count Sergius Volk- 
hoffsky’s charge. He was so clever and so bril- 
liant that when talking to him I naturally over- 
looked the unobtrusive claims of scenery. I 
might possi bly see a great deal more of the world 
in 'time to come, I thought, but I should never 
have such a wonderful traveling companion 
again. Therefore it would have been foolish to 
refuse the opportunities which were mine of en- 
joying his society* Certainly these opportuni- 
ties seemed to last almost all day, for, strangely 
enough, Count Yolkhoffsky never seemed to tire 
of my company. I knew that things would be 
Very different, when we reached London, and 
he was introduced to cleverer and better-looking 
girls. Meanwhile, I felt happy in the present, 
and tried to banish the oft-recurring vision of 
my own probable future of lonely loveless- 
ness. 

Alas! the time sped all too quickly for me, 
though by every one else on board our arrival in 
London was hailed with unmixed relief. The 
Prince and Princess Michaelow went to the 
Hotel Metropole until they could complete their 
arrangements for residing in a home of their own 


222 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

furnishing.# Their cousin, Sergius, went with 
them for a time. 

Mr. and Mrs. Karniak, Feo, myself and 
Trischl were soon located in Kensington again, 
being fortunate in securing a very nicely fur- 
nished house pro tern. I was not sure that 
madame’s financial position was such now as 
warranted my remaining with her, but I hardly 
knew how to introduce the question of my de- 
parture. It relieved my embarrassment consid- 
erably when madame, having probably partially 
gauged my feelings, spoke to me one morning 
about Feo’s future. 

“I find,” she said, “that Feo shows consider- 
able facility for learning languages. She is so 
young yet that she may safely postpone a good 
many of the ordinary branches of her education, 
and she is getting on so well with her French 
and German that I hope you will not leave us 
for some time. To lose you would be a serious 
break in my child’s education, and I hope you 
know how anxious I am to retain your compan- 
ionship, especially as Victor has much traveling 
to do before his financial affairs are all satisfac- 
torily arranged.” 

“Surely he is not going to Russia again?” I 
exclaimed. 

“No, not to Russia, but to South America. 
He has money invested in shares there, and is 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


223 


also concerned in some California speculations. 
For some time he has foreseen that it would be 
as well to invest his capital out of Russia. But 
his agents have been rather lax, and he is going 
to inspect both nitrate beds and gold mines, in 
order that he may realize his legitimate profit on 
them. This will take him many months, and 
we want you to promise that you will stay with 
me at least until he comes back. Both Feo and 
1 need you.’’ 

Stay with them ! As if it were a favor on my 
part, too! Put in that way, the request cer- 
tainly surprised me. 

“Stay with you!” I said gratefully. “I shall 
only be too happy to do so. Where else have I 
to go to, since my own father declines to wel- 
come me?” 

Madame had a knack of being tantalizingly 
mysterious at times, and I puzzled my head for 
some time to unravel the meaning of the curious 
smile with which she greeted my last question. 
But my immediate future was now arranged for, 
at all events, and the least I could do in return 
for madame’s kindness was to set about my 
duties, light as they were, with all my heart and 
all my soul. 

Meanwhile, I felt anxious to learn how things 
fared with Lady Elizabeth. At times, when I 
remembered the mysterious nature of the illness 


224 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

from which she was suffering when I last saw 
her, I almost feared the worst. Then my nat- 
urally hopeful temper reasserted itself, and I re- 
flected that she would now in all probability be 
quickly recovering her normal strength in the 
bracing air of Moorbye, whither my family 
would be sure to have returned ere this. 

And Jerry ! Dear little Jerry ! How ardently 
I longed to see him. He would be spending his 
holidays at home now, and I wondered if he had 
made such progress with his French as he seemed 
to anticipate before he left us. What a long 
time it seemed since father and I, both with 
such light hearts, had seen him leave our little 
station in the care of the tutor. And what a 
round of events had taken place since then. I 
had suffered much, and felt years older, although 
the last few weeks seemed to have softened my 
regrets for the past in a wonderful degree. 

Belle, too. Somehow, I was now able to 
think of her without feeling such anger as had 
formerly haunted me, though I can never pre- 
tend to a return of loving, sisterly interest in 
her. That was dead forever, but so also was 
my former determination to make her suffer as 
keenly as I had been made to suffer. Such 
a determination I looked upon now as unchris- 
tian and unnatural, since the object of my ven- 
geance was my own mother’s daughter 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


225 


Better let sleeping dogs lie, I thought, since 
any revelations concerning the death of the late 
Earl of Greatlands, if they tended to substanti- 
ate my idea,of willful culpability on the part of 
Belle and her fiance, would be productive of 
great grief to many others. 

Feeling anxious and unsettled, and being 
doubtful of the wisdom of writing home to ask 
for news of my people, lest my father should 
compel me to give up my present life of honor- 
able independence and freedom from petty in- 
sults, I took advantage of a spare hour or two 
shortly after my return to London, and went to 
the house my father had rented in town. It was 
tenantless. I had not intended really going in, 
but I believe I should not have been able to re- 
sist trying to see Lady Elizabeth, if she had still 
been living here, and I felt more disappointed 
than I could have believed possible, since I had 
not really expected to see her. To go to Moor- 
bye was out of the question just now, I thought, 
as I did not wish to trespass upon madame’s 
good nature yet awhile to the extent of neglect- 
ing my duties for a couple of days. 

I was walking through the park, on my way 
home again, revolving the propriety of writing 
to ask Mrs. Garth to let me have all the news 
about my people, when I accidentally jostled 
against some one else who was evidently as pre- 


226 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


occupied as I was. Hastily looking up, with an 
ejaculation of apology, I saw, looking at me 
with a face upon which was pictured the great- 
est surprise, an elderly man, in whom I recog- 
nized none other than Dennis Marvel, the former 
valet of my dear old earl. 

“Oh, miss!” he said eagerly. “I am glad to 
see you. For I have that on my mind which 
will drive me mad, if I keep it to myself, but 
which I dare tell to nobody but you. I am fairly 
pulled to pieces with the misery of the thing. 
One minute something in me says, ‘Tell all you 
know, and let justice be done. Let not the 
guilty flourish while the innocent are cast aside.’ 
The next minute it seems as if the wickedest thing 
I could do was to make more trouble for them 
that has had enough already. Oh! miss, you 
will be able to help me to decide what should be 
done. Though you had such bitter enemies, you 
won’t let hatred of them lead you to be cruel to 
their belongings, and oh! how it will ease my 
mind to tell you everything. I have been to the 
house to inquire for you, but the servants could 
not tell me anything about you, except that they 
thought there had been a quarrel, and that Mr. 
Courtney had turned you out — you, who had 
been robbed of wealth and title ! It made my 
blood boil to hear it ; but of course I could not 
say what I thought, and I never hoped to come 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


227 


across your ladyship that was to have been like 
this — so lucky, after all.*” 

I had let the old mau talk on so long without 
interruption, for my inward dismay had liter- 
ally bereft me of the power of speech for a time. 

I did not even try to pretend to myself that I 
misunderstood MarvePs meaning, or that I did 
not know exactly to what event he was alluding. 
At last the mystery of the earl’s death was 
going to be cleared up for me. My suspicions 
were to become proved facts, and upon my 
shoulders was to fall the onus of judging and 
sentencing the guilty. It is small wonder that 
I felt the blood leave my face; that my limbs 
trembled under me, and that I was glad to avail 
myself of the support of the seat near which I 
had come into collision with Marvel. I mo- 
tioned to him to sit down also, hastily looking 
round, lest possible prying ears should be at 
hand to surprise and proclaim to the world the 
secret of which my companion was about to dis- 
burden himself. 

“I see that you fully understand my mean- 
ing,” he said, “and I don’t need to beat about 
the bush much, for I always thought that you 
suspected foul play, by the way you looked at 
your sister and the young earl. Well, miss, it’s 
quite true. They made away with my poor old. 
master, for they had sworn that you shouldn’t 


228 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


get married to him and lord it over them at the 
castle. Besides, they pretended to think the earl 
must be in his dotage, and no longer fit to be 
the head of the family* when he could seriously 
think of choosing — well, miss, not to offend you, 
I hope — but they said he had picked the ugliest 
girl he could find, and that there was no telling 
what crazy thing he would do next — try to cut 
off the entail, or something of the sort. So they 
laid their plans to stop the wedding, and, I 
swear it is true, they murdered my poor old 
master. ’ ’ 

“Stop, Marvel,” I said now, having at last 
recovered the power of speech. “The accusa- 
tions you make are too terrible to be believed 
lightly. It is easy to say what your suspicions 
dictate. But you have no proofs of what you 
say, and I will not hear anything more. I loved 
the old earl for his goodness to me, a neglected, 
unattractive girl, whom very few people cared 
for. The present earl is his son and the brother 
of my dear stepmother. His fiancee is my sis- 
ter, and thus both, though actually my enemies, 
have claims upon my forbearance. Marvel, I 
dare not believe them guilty. I will not believe 
them guilty! You shall tell me no more.” 

“You must hear all I have got to say now, 
Miss Dora,” returned Marvel firmly. “I tell 
you, I must open my mind to somebody, and 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


229 


I reckon you are the safest. Another thing, I 
have to be back soon, so would like to get on 
with my story.” 

“Are you still with the present earl?” 

“Yes, that’s how I know so much about his 
black secret. And my knowing the secret is 
the reason why I stop on with him, for he is not 
very easy to put up with nowadays. But, you 
see, I have lived all my life in the family, and 
so did my father and mother before me. So I 
feel as if the family’s trouble and disgrace were 
mine, too, and I would rather keep on as I am 
than let another man step into my shoes. For 
he would soon be at the bottom of the family 
mystery, and then what would become of us 
all?” 

What, indeed? The result was too dreadful 
to contemplate, and I no longer questioned either 
Marvel’s veracity, or the purity of his motives. 

“The present earl,” he went on, “was always 
inclined to drink a bit. But since his father’s 
death he has really gohe on awful. Every week 
it has got worse, and I have had to put him to 
bed drunk every night for this last month. This 
couldn’t help having a serious effect on him, and 
last week he had a very bad attack of delirium 
tremens, in which his own ravings showed the 
whole business up as plain as daylight. I was 
glad he was pretty quiet when the doctor was 


230 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


there, as he would have been one too many in 
the secret. The papers said that he was laid up 
with an attack of pleurisy. But I knew better, 
and it does not pay a fashionable doctor to split 
about his patients. Toward the end of the week 
the earl got over his attack of the blues and then 
I had a serious talk with him. 

“ ‘My lord,’ said I, ‘you must drink no more.’ 

“ ‘And why not?’ he asked, looking at me as 
if he thought I had left my senses somewhere 
else. 

“ ‘Because,’ I said, looking him straight in the 
face, ‘dead men tell no tales, but drink makes 
people tell things that it’s safer nobody else 
should know. I’ll tell you what the drink has 
made you do and say, and then you can judge 
whether it’s safe for you to drink any more or 
not. ’ 

“Then I described how he had gone on when 
unconscious of what he was doing. He had 
fancied every now and then that his father’s 
ghost was standing before him with outstretched 
finger and threatening visage. ‘ For God’s 
sake!’ he would scream, ‘take it away! It is 
drawing me down to hell! Let me go — take 
her ! She prompted me to it ! It was her crime. 
I would not have thought of it, but for her. I 
gave him the poison, but it was Belle who 
bought it. She swore that she would use it on 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


231 


her sister, if I failed with the poor old man, who 
deserved nothing but good at my hands. Why 
didn’t I let her poison the girl? I shouldn’t 
have had this to face then. Begone ! ’ 

“At this he jumped out of bed as if he meant 
to attack somebody. But he just fell all of a 
heap on the floor, and was pretty easily managed 
till the next paroxysm came on, which was in 
another hour or two. 

“Now you can guess what sort of an effect my 
talk had upon my master. He went almost be- 
side himself with terror, and was for offering 
me no end of things to bribe me to keep bis 
secret. But I am not one of those human vul- 
tures who grow fat on the crimes and miseries 
of others, and I wouldn’t touch a farthing from 
the earl except in the way of my earnings, as 
usual. It would burn my fingers, if I did. 
‘No,* I said, ‘Dennis Marvel knows his duty to 
the family too well to betray it. Your lordship 
has the matter in your own hands. Keep off 
the drink. Keep your mouth shut, and all’s 
safe. ’ 

“Since then he hasn’t tasted a drop of any- 
thing that could make him drunk. But he has 
awful nights, all the same. He wasn’t really 
meant for a villain, and, saving your presence, 
Miss Dora, if that she-devil, your sister, hadn’t 
got hold of him, things would have been all 


232 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

riglil, and we should all have been as happy as 
we used to be before we knew her. And now, 
Miss Dora, what would you advise me to do? 
Do you blame me for what I have done? It 
would kill Lady Elizabeth, and disgrace the 
family forever, if we didn’t keep the secret. So 
it cannot be wicked to shield the guilty.” 

Thus appealed' to by Marvel, I replied firmly: 

“We must shield the guilty, Marvel, in order 
to protect the innocent. You wouldn’t like to 
have Lady Elizabeth’s death on your conscience, 
would you?” 

“God forbid!” 

“Then you and I, faithful friend, must breathe 
a word of this business to no one. And we 
must do all we can to prevent others from learn- 
ing the terrible secret. It is a heavy burden you 
have put upon my shoulders. Marvel. I can 
only hope your burden has been eased a little in 
the telling, and that you will not think it neces- 
sary to share it with any one else. ’ ’ 

“I give you my Bible oath, Miss Dora, that 
not a living soul shall hear me speak of this 
thing but you. The weight of the secret was 
choking me, but, as you say, a burden shared by 
somebody else of like mind is half rolled away.” 

“And yet you have something else to tell me. 
What do you mean by saying that the earl has 
bad nights? Is he still likely to betray himself?” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. &33 

“I think not; for, when awake, he knows quite 
well what he is saying. But his conscience is 
tormenting him to his doom. He cannot live 
long and suffer as he is doing. Sleep refuses 
to visit him, except when he takes an opiate, 
and every night the dose has to be made bigger, 
or it has no effect. A fine state of mind for a 
man to be in who is going to be married next 
month. ” 

“Next month?” l 

“Yes, on the fifteenth.” 

“In London?” « 

“No. Lady Elizabeth is too ill to stand much 
fuss and excitement. So the wedding is to be 
as quiet as possible, and is to take place at Moor- 
bye Church, the Rev. Mr. Garth officiating. It 
is just as well for everybody.” 

“Yes, it is just as well. And now, do you 
know, Marvel, I feel ill with the shock of all 
you have told me, and — ” 

Marvel at once jumped up and offered to fetch 
a cab for me. I gladly accepted his offer, and 
reached home half an hour later, while Marvel 
returned to his master’s town house, to fulfill 
those duties which his long attachment to the 
Greatlands family, and his identification of his 
own honor with that of his employers, alone 
made it possible for him to continue. 


23.4 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


CHAPTER X. 

“ ’Tis better to be born lucky than rich.” 

“You have been gone a long time, my dear,” 
said madame. “I had begun to be quite anxious 
about you, and some one has been waiting for 
you who is becoming, oh! so impatient.” 

“Impatient to see me? Why, I shall believe 
myself to be quite an important individual 
soon,” I returned, with an attempt at a smile, 
that was so lamentable a failure that madame’s 
attention was aroused at once. 

“What is it, my child?” she asked solici- 
tously. “I thought, when you came in, that 
you were looking extra well. You had such 
rosy cheeks. How I see that you are flushed 
with excitement. How is it? Have you had 
an adventure? You are trembling all over.” 

“Yes, I have had an adventure,” I said, my 
pent-up emotions finding vent in tears, which 
soon relieved me a little, and were not checked 
by madame, who fully understood the value of 
this outlet for nature’s wellsprings of feeling. She 
was at first somewhat alarmed as to the nature 
of my adventure. But I speedily reassured her 
on that score, telling her that I had met an old 
family servant, who had been giving me some 
news that had upset me for a time. 


ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 


235 


“Is it very bad news?” she asked. 

“My stepmother is ill, and my sister is going 
to be married.” 

“But your stepmother has been ill some time, 
and your sister was engaged to be married be- 
fore you left home.” 

“Yes, but both illness and engagement have 
made progress, and I feel very anxious now 
about Lady Elizabeth.” 

“You must go and see her soon. That will 
put your mind at rest. And the dear little 
brother of whom you are so fond. How is he?” 

How was he, indeed! Why, I had forgotten 
to make a single inquiry about him. Truly, 
my perturbation of mind must have been great 
to make me forget Jerry. My horror had effaced 
the memory of my love for the time, and I ex- 
plained to my mistress that so much that was 
sensational had been told me that there had 
been no inclination to bring Jerry into the con- 
versation. 

“I shall learn all about him to-morrow,” I 
concluded. “As you know, I have written to 
Mrs. Garth to send me all the news she has, and 
I should have her reply soon. I will also write 
to Lady Elizabeth at once, explaining that I am 
still safe and well. It is just possible that she 
has been anxious about me, although I wrote 
her a reassuring letter from the Grange before 


236 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

I came to you. I also gave Mrs. Garth permis- 
sion to inform her that I had gone to St. Peters- 
burg, in safe companionship.” 

“Not so safe as you thought, eh? But that 
is all over now, Heaven be thanked. And the 
chances are then that your stepmother and your 
father know already where you are, if you have 
imposed no special restrictions upon Mrs. 
Garth?” 

“Yes, very likely they know already.” 

“I hope they will not insist upon your leav- 
ing us.” 

“I will not leave you. But I must see Lady 
Elizabeth, as she is so ill. Perhaps a visit from 
me might help to tranquilize her mind a little.” 

‘ ‘ Dear me ! And there is some one else whose 
mind will want tranquilizing by this time. 
Sergius is waiting in the drawing-room for you 
all this while.” 

I would fain have been excused from meeting 
“Sergius” just then, for I knew I must be even 
more unpresentable than usual. But madame 
was inexorable, and a minute later I was tete-a- 
tete with a man in whose company I had begun 
of late to feel remarkably uncomfortable. It 
was strange that I should begin to avoid the 
presence of the only individual of the opposite 
sex whose lengthened absence was distasteful to 
me, and that I should become gauche and dull 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


237 


in the society of the one being whose conversa- 
tion afforded me most happiness. And yet, 
when I come to think of it, there was nothing 
strange about it, after all, though I did not 
understand myself at the time. 

I know now that I loved Sergius Volkhoffsky 
with a passion so great that I dreaded a betrayal 
of my feelings to others, with the consequent 
humiliation that I thought would be inevitable. 
He was handsome; I was ugly. He seemed to 
me to be one of the cleverest men under the sun, 
while I felt the acquirements of which I had 
formerly been so proud to be little more than a 
rudimentary education. Thanks to his prudent 
foresight, he had lost but a small proportion of 
the wealth which he had inherited from his 
father. And I was a penniless girl, whom dis- 
agreement with her family had compelled to go 
forth to earn her own livelihood. 

Ho wonder I felt miserable when I pictured 
the different fate that might have been mine, 
had I but possessed a fair share of nature’s 
bounties, and no wonder that I shrank, in antici- 
pation, from the joyless existence foreshadowed 
in an unloved future. 

I had truly loved my old earl. But my love 
was based entirely on gratitude and esteem. 
Such love is honest, honorable and pleasant to 
behold. It is also lasting and durable, if per- 


238 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

mitted to flow on in a gentle, uninterrupted cur- 
rent. But if its possessor be of an ardent nature 
it is as easily dispelled by a sudden passion as is 
froth on the surface of the breakers, and I know 
now how feeble is the love born of gratitude 
compared to the love one feels for one’s ideal. 
There are some women so constituted that pas- 
sion is powerless to assail them, and upon the 
whole, it is well for them that it should be so, 
for their lives run on in quiet, contented grooves 
that afford them every satisfaction. 

But ask the woman of a more ardent nature 
if she would barter her hopes and dreams and 
possible disappointments for the humdrum exist- 
ence associated in her mind with quiet affection, 
and she will answer emphatically in the nega- 
tive. It was so with me now. Having once 
seen and known Sergius Volkhoffsky, I could 
but marvel how I could, ever have contemplated 
marrying a man old enough to be my grand- 
father. Having arrived at this state of mind, 
my recollections of my past disappointments lost 
all their bitterness, and I could but feel thankful 
that my passion for Sergius, vain as it seemed, 
was not of *an unlawful nature, since I had as 
yet made vows of allegiance to no other man. 

But I was not thinking of all this in detail 
when I entered the room in which Sergius had 
been waiting so long for me. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


239 


“I am sorry,” I said, “that I was not here to 
receive you when you asked for me. I am also 
very curious to know the nature of the business 
which could actually make you wait half an 
hour and more to see me.” 

He sprang up to greet me, his pleasant smile 
and warm hand-clasp being enough to dispel the 
most obstinate spirits. His glance, too, was so 
ardent that I felt the color rush to my cheeks, 
and instinctively lowered my eyelids, that he 
might not see what power he had over my 
feelings. 

“I have not been dull while you were out. 
My friends have taken care of that. But I have 
that to say to you which made me very impatient 
for your arrival. How that you are here, I am 
not in such a hurry to disburden myself, lest I 
be sent away in disgrace. But, first, tell me 
what I have been doing to offend you lately.” 

“Offend me! How could you offend me?” I 
asked, with such genuine surprise on my face 
that he could but see I was in earnest. 

“Then why,” he continued, this time taking 
my hands in his, as if to command my attention 
more effectually; “why have you been so stiff 
and distant with me? How do you account for 
that?” 

How did I account for it? To this day I am 
unable to tell. I only know that, amazing as it 


240 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

may seem, Sergius loved me, and desired noth- 
ing so much as to spend the rest of his life with 
me. Of course I urged my own unfitness for the 
honor of becoming his wife. But my feeble re- 
monstrances were so vigorously combated that 
at last I was able to believe myself to be as truly 
beloved as the most beautiful and perfect woman 
could wish. 

There was now only one possible hindrance to 
my perfect happiness. Belle’s secret must not 
be divulged in its entirety. But I could not ac- 
cept an honorable man without warning him 
that possible disgrace — deserved disgrace — 
threatened my family. Disgrace, moreover, of 
so deadly a nature that a nation would recoil in 
horror from the contemplation of it. 

“I have heard all your history from Madame 
Karniak, and can thus form some faint idea of 
the nature of the disgrace you hint at. It has 
some connection with the sudden death of the 
late Earl of Greatlands. You see, I know all 
about him, and I am not at all jealous of the 
affection you felt for the poor old man. But 
you have suffered enough in connection with 
that business, and anything that your sister may 
have been accessory to must be expiated by her- 
self, not by you, nor by me, whose happiness 
depends on becoming your husband.” 

So said Sergius. I know of nobody so young 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


241 


who is half so wise and clever as Sergius. So 
why should I stand in the light of our mutual 
happiness? Truly, it would have been sheer 
folly. Therefore, when I went to bed that night 
it was as the promised bride of a man any woman 
would have been proud to win. 

There had been much congratulation on the 
part of the Karniaks, who smilingly asserted 
that they had seen all the time “which way the 
wind was blowing.” During the evening, we 
had a call from the Prince and Princess Mi- 
chaelow, who warmly welcomed me as one who 
was speedily to become a relative. 

“Not for a long time,” I said, feeling -just a 
little embarrassed because I could not prevent 
my face from looking ridiculously happy. “I 
am going to remain with madame until all the 
South American and Australian business is 
settled.” 

“But suppose madame no longer wants you?” 
observed Sergius mischievously. 

“But you see she does want me.” 

“That remains to be proved. I believe a little 
bird has already whispered something to me 
about alteration of plans since you came in this 
afternoon.” 

“It is quite true,” supplemented madame. 
“What I said this afternoon to you about not 
leaving us was sincerely meant. But while you 


242 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

and Sergius were making your future arrange- 
ments, Victor and I decided that life would not 
be worth living so long apart. So Feo and I 
are going to South America with him, and may 
probably stay there much longer than Victor 
would care to stay without us.” 

“Meanwhile/’ said Nina, “you are to stay 
with us as our guest, until Sergius gets a house 
nicely furnished for you.” 

“And your visit is to be a very short one. A 
fortnight at the most. I shall make upholsterers 
and decorators fly around, so that when we re- 
turn from otfr wed ding- trip you will find every- 
thing to your liking.” 

So said Sergius, and since everybody seemed 
inclined to dispose of me so unceremoniously, I 
could but utter very feeble protests, and virtually 
surrender myself to their management. I only 
made one stipulation. My marriage must be as 
private as possible. My happiness seemed too 
great to be true, and I had a vague feeling that, 
if fate should dash the cup from me, I could best 
bear it with few onlookers. The feeling may 
have been morbid. But my past experience 
must plead my excuse. 

The next morning lessons for Feo were out of 
the question. We elders had so much to talk 
about, and so many plans to discuss, that ma- 
dame told Trischl to take the child for a walk, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 243 

while we completed our arrangements. Trischl 
had been offered the option of joining her own 
people, who were now in Germany, but had pre- 
ferred to travel with madame in the capacity of 
maid. So her immediate future was disposed 
of also. The Karniaks would have liked to stay 
to the wedding, but considered it advisable to 
secure a passage in a quick boat that was sailing 
in four days. There was thus little time for 
preparation. But I rendered all the help I could, 
and be sure that my dear friends and I parted 
from each other with tears of regret, though we 
expected to have the happiness of seeing each 
other again some day. 

I had had two letters from Mrs. Garth, in which 
she informed me that Lady Elizabeth was very 
much better ; that Belle was more beautiful than 
ever, and apparently very much delighted at the 
approaching consummation of her ambitious 
projects. Jerry was at home, and was a jolly 
little fellow, but said that the Grange wasn’t 
like home without Dorrie. My father, too, I 
was told, had fretted somewhat about me, hav- 
ing evidently come to the conclusion that his 
treatment of me had not been the exclusive out- 
come of wisdom. “I am sure,” continued Mrs. 
Garth, “that if you were to return home now, 
your father would welcome you as gladly as 
would Jerry and Lady Elizabeth. Of your sis- 


244 ADVENTURES .OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


ter’s sentiments I know nothing, as she holds 
herself very much aloof from me. I have an 
idea that she dislikes me. By-the-by, you re- 
member May Morris? She is going to marry 
Mr. Graham, the young doctor. He has bought 
a practice at Brightburn, and will take his bride 
thither next' week.” 

I was very much amused when I remembered 
May’s rhapsodies about the actor, but had no 
doubt that a healthy affection for a good man 
who loved her would oust all the rubbishy ro- 
mance with which she had formerly been filled. 
It was good news to hear that my stepmother’s 
health had improved so much. Lcould but hope 
that the improvement might continue, and that 
she might be spared all knowledge relating to 
the particulars of her father’s death. I resolved 
that when I saw her again, I would, indirectly, 
try to set her mind at rest on the subject by ex- 
plaining the irrational and unfounded nature of 
the suspicions I had, in my bitter sorrow, shared 
with her. Her illness had always struck me as 
having a mental origin, and I concluded, since 
she was improving, that she was already in- 
clined to think the best of her brother and 
Belle. 

I was just revolving all this in my mind, and 
thinking how glad I would be to go to the 
Grange again, when a servant announced a visi- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 245 


tor for me, and my father came quickly into the 
room in which I sat. I was not wholly surprised 
by his visit, for both Sergius and I had written 
to him. giving him the particulars of our en- 
gagement, and asking his consent to our imme- 
diate marriage. But if I expected anything like 
a demonstrative greeting from him, I was dis- 
appointed, for he merely touched my hand, as 
though I had been a comparative stranger, and 
then plunged straight into the business which 
had brought him hither. 

“I have, after an unwarrantable silence on 
your part,” he said, “received a letter of so ex- 
traordinary a tenor that I have decided, to an- 
swer it in person. You say you have promised 
to marry an individual who calls himself Count 
Volkhoflrsky. What proof have you that he is a 
genuine count?” 

“I can refer you to his cousin, Prince Alex- 
ander Michaelow, from whose house we are to 
be married. There are plenty of people in 
London who will give you proofs of the genu- 
ineness of both titles. ” 

“A prince! You seem to have the knack of 
ingratiating yourself with the aristocracy. You 
are not quite so ugly as you were. Your hair, 
curled in that fashion, looks rather pretty than 
otherwise. Still, I can’t see what even an old 
and decrepit nobleman can see in you. He 


246 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

might get a professional nurse at much less 
expense ” 

My fathei had always trampled on my feelings 
without the slightest compunction, and his sneers 
had left many a bitter wound behind. But these 
w T ere all healed now, and he had lost the power 
to hurt me. For the first time in my life his 
depreciation of me evoked nothing but a feeling 
of triumph. I simply rose and rang the bell, 
and. on its being answered, asked the servant if 
Count Volkhoffsky had arrived yet. On being 
answered in the affirmative, I sent to see if he 
would favor us with his company for a mo- 
ment. 

“And tell Mr. and Madame Karniak that I 
would be glad if they would permit me to intro- 
duce my father to their notice,” I said, as the 
servant was leaving the room. 

I shall never forget my father’s look of indig- 
nant surprise, when I spoke of introducing him 
to the notice of my friends. I was amply 
avenged for many a cut I had received, and was 
also convinced that, in future, he would treat 
me with a little more consideration. But he 
evidently regarded me principally as Belle’s 
rival, and even when he, later in the day, set off 
to return to Courtney Grange, he was, I am 
sure, feeling both perplexed and sore at the idea 
of the apparent facility I possessed for at least 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


24 ? 


equaling, if not surpassing, his beautiful darl- 
ing’s opportunities of happiness. 

He had also taken it for granted that my 
fiance was some undesirable individual, whose 
motive in marrying me was self-interest of some 
sort, and I smile yet when I remember how as- 
tonished he was when Sergius confronted him, 
and asked him in so courtly a fashion for his 
consent to his marriage with his youngest 
daughter. Of course that consent *was given, 
and very glad I was, too. Although I was not 
anxious to see Belle again, I was thankful to be 
reconciled with my family, as Jerry and Lady 
Elizabeth were too dear to me to be given up 
entirely. 

The day after my father’s visit to me wit- 
nessed the departure of the Karniaks to Chili 
and my temporary installation in the house of 
Prince Michaelow. 

My second trousseau was already in active 
preparation. Madame Karniak and Princess 
Hina had insisted on making me handsome pre- 
sents, to compensate me for the wardrobe I had 
lost, they said. Lady Elizabeth also sent me 
the most affectionate letter imaginable. So far 
from resenting the fact that I was about to 
marry a man whom I regarded with much 
warmer feelings than the mild affection which 
I had entertained for the poor old earl, she re- 


248 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


joiced with me at my good fortune in having 
won the love of such a man as Sergius. She was 
also good enough to say that I fully deserved 
my happiness, and as an indorsement of her ap- 
proval of the whole arrangement she inclosed a 
check for one hundred pounds as her wedding 
present. * 

Thus armed with the approbation of my 
friends, and all the necessary sinews of war, I 
entered the whirl of preparation with the light- 
est of hearts and the brightest of prospects. 
Sometimes my busy fingers would ' stay their 
work, and a cloud of dread and apprehension 
would settle on my brain. 

Was it possible that I, utterly lacking out- 
ward beauty, and until lately the most unloved 
of beings, was really and truly the one and only 
woman with whom Sergius could be happy? 
Had he never loved another woman? And if he 
had, was she not sure to have been beautiful? 

When I remembered how truly artistic was 
my lover’s temperament, it seemed incredible to 
me that he could be perfectly contented with a 
wife whose chief function in society seemed to 
be to act as a foil to those women whom nat- 
ure had endowed more liberally with outward 
charms. And if the time were to come when 
it would become incumbent upon me to recog- 
nize the conviction that Sergius had mistaken 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


249 


his sentiments for me, and that he regretted his 
precipitancy, how would I be able to bear my 
life? 

Suppose, after the irrevocable knot was tied, 
my husband were to wake up some day to the 
knowledge that he loved another woman? Sup- 
pose — but by the time I had thus foolishly and 
fruitlessly tormented myself, it was beyond m3’ 
power to endure even the thought of another 
self-stabbing supposition, and a reaction invari- 
abl3 T set in. Surely Sergius, who was chivalry, 
gentleness and bravery personified, and who was 
esteemed by all his friends for his powers of ob- 
servation and his clear, cool insight into human 
nature, would not belie his character just where 
I was concerned! To believe it was to doubt all 
his good qualities, and I rated myself an ingrate 
for entertaining such heretical sentiments for 
one moment. 

If the reader is inclined to subscribe to this 
last opinion, perhaps he or she will kindly credit 
fate with at least a portion of the mental perver- 
sity which at times tormented me almost beyond 
endurance. It had been so often impressed upon 
me all my life long that I could never hope to 
win the true and lasting regard of any man, that 
it was surely natural for me to doubt the endur- 
ance of the happiness which seemed to be within 
my grasp. 


250 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

But these freaks of fancy could not withstand 
the sunny presence of my worshiped Sergius 
himself, who was apt to flatter me almost as 
much as the Earl of Greatlands had done, and 
who seemed never tired of praising the now lux- 
uriant silken rings of my hair, my long-lashed, 
expressive eyes, and my graceful figure, not to 
speak of my rich olive complexion. On most of 
these counts I let him talk without protest on 
my part. Although I knew that his opinion of 
me was ridiculously disproportionate to my de- 
serts, my anxiously observant eyes could not 
blind themselves to the fact that my outward 
presentment was a vast improvement upon its 
old self. 

But when Sergius actually ventured to praise 
my face, and above all, my inveterately snubby 
nose, I put down his flatteries with a firm hand. 
It was in vain for him to quote Tennyson, and 
speak of my unfortunate organ as “tiptilted.” 
There are degrees and proportions of tiptilted- 
ness, and I had measured the depths of unhap- 
piness too often through “that hideous nose” to 
allow my vanity to persuade me into believing 
its disabilities removed. 

Still, I was no longer miserable about it; in- 
deed, I grew rather proud of it than otherwise. 
For if that nose had not had the power to repel 
Sergius, it was henceforth to be regarded as the 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


251 


most prominent existing proof of the genuine- 
ness of his affection. 

And, after all, what mattered it, since, when 
the glamour of self-torment was off me, I knew 
myself to be my lover’s idol and the hope of his 
existence, miraculous though such a state of 
things seemed? 

My friends, too, were of the kindest and most 
considerate ones of the earth. Thus there seemed 
nothing to hinder me from being perfectly 
happy, and as my wedding-day approached 
nearer and nearer I grew more and more con- 
fident of the future, for neither envy nor hatred 
conspired to wreck my prospects, as had been the 
case before the dawning of that other wedding- 
day. 

I was writing to Lady Elizabeth, to express 
my regret at her inability to come to the wed- 
ding, and to thank her for her generosity and 
good wishes, when Sergius was announced, and 
I hastily finished and sealed my missive. For 
was not this the last day of my spinster hood? 
And did I not owe my beloved every moment I 
could spare? 

“I hope you have finished all your prepara- 
tions, sweetheart, and that no one else expects 
any attention from you to-day,” said Sergius. 
“For I mean to monopolize you altogether.” 

“Indeed you won’t, for Nina won’t see me for 


252 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


some time after to-morrow, and has exacted a 
promise from me that I would go with her to 
choose her very latest wedding-present to me. 
So you will have to spare me for an hour or 
two.” 

“And indeed I won’t! Just picture your 
being selfish enough to want to go off without 
me! You shall do your shopping. But you 
must do it in my company, for, oddly enough, I 
also have a fancy that you should choose your 
most prized, wedding-present from me yourself, 
and we can make one expedition of it. Oh, 
here is our gracious princess herself! She will 
agree to all I propose, I know.” 

“I must first know what it is that you pro- 
pose,” smiled the Princess Nina, who had just 
entered the room, Prince Michaelow following 
closely in her wake. “I don’t like to make 
promises in the dark.” 

“Sergius wants to go shopping with us,” I 
explained. 

“Oh, as for that, I mean to go, too,” said the 
prince. “If Sergius will look just a shade less 
bridegroomy he may also make one of the 
party.” 

The prince’s sally at Sergius’s ecstatically 
happy look was received with a laugh by us all, 
and half an hour later we were all four being 
driven toward Piccadilly behind a pair of splen- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


253 


did bays. Then ensued a series of excursions 
into various West End establishments that was 
even more odd than it was delightful, which is 
saying much. For it was strange to me to feel 
myself the courted and petted object of attention 
on the part of three such splendid specimens of 
humanity as my betrothed and the Prince and 
Princess Michaelow. Probably others also noted 
the disparity in our appearance and commented 
on it after their own fashion. 

But my companions were top agreeably em- 
ployed to pay attention to much beyond the busi- 
ness at hand, and so many presents were lav- 
ished upon me that I found it necessary to enter 
a protest. We were all just leaving a Regent 
Street jeweler’s shop, preparatory to re-entering 
the carriage for our homeward drive, when 
Princess Mna suddenly said to me in a low 
voice: “What a beautiful woman! And she 
seems to know you. Who is she?” 

I looked up hastily, and was confronted by my 
sister and her intended husband. For an in- 
stant I hesitated whether to return Belle’s stare 
of haughty recognition by a conciliatory move- 
ment or not. My hesitation proved my salva- 
tion from what would have been an intolerable 
humiliation. The Earl of Greatlands and Miss 
Courtney passed on without vouchsafing me 
anything but the disapproving look due to an 


254 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

obnoxious stranger rather than to a sister, and 
we had entered our carriage before I had had 
time to answer Nina’s question. 

I felt the blood leave my face at thus meeting 
my mother’s child as a stranger, and Nina was 
quick to see that I was strangely moved by the 
encounter. She looked the question she did not 
care to trouble me by repeating, and I tried to 
answer her in as unmoved a voice as possible. 

“That was my sister who passed us. And 
the gentleman who is with her is the Earl of 
Greatlands.” 

“H’m! I thought as much,” put in Sergius. 
“I was just thinking that the woman approach- 
ing us would have been quite handsome, if her 
face had been less soulless, when I saw her flash 
such a malignant look at my Dora as is never 
seen on the face of the good, and which a 
stranger certainly could not evoke. I don’t 
envy my Lord Greatlands.” 

“And I would not like to be in Miss Court- 
ney’s shoes,” said Nina. “For her affianced 
looks just like one of my father’s parishioners 
used to look. He had been both wicked and dis- 
sipated, and finished his career in a madhouse. 
We will, however, hope that your sister, when 
married, will find her husband more desirable 
than he looks.” 

Alas! I knew too well how little happiness 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


255 


the future could really have in store for my mis- 
guided sister and the unhappy man who had 
succumbed to her evil influence. The latter 
looked even more ill than I had expected to see 
him, and I doubted whether the, haunting re- 
morse from which he suffered would not soon 
drive his reason from its throne. 

And Belle! How could she comport herself 
with such queenly pride, and with such an air 
of self-satisfaction as she was wearing just now? 
It was inexplicable to me. But though the 
puzzle was beyond my comprehension, it had the 
power to damp my joy for the rest of the day. 

I would much rather have been spared the 
sight of my enemy on my wedding-eve, and, for 
the life of me, I could not help wondering 
whether her presence in London would not prove 
an ill omen for me. Of course the fancy was 
silly. But there it was, and I could not banish 
it. Still, though I was less happy than before, 
I did not wish to spoil the pleasure of my com- 
panions, and, for their sakes, I feigned a gayety 
I no longer felt. 

As we were being driven slowly past Hyde 
Park Corner, on our way back to Kensington, 
something else occurred to cause me an acces- 
sion of surprise not unmixed with dread. A 
woman was waiting to cross the road as soon as 
it should be safe to do so. 


256 ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 

She was carelessly glancing at the occupants 
of the carriages which passed her, and I was 
just thinking how handsome she was, and with 
what perfect taste she was dressed, when I felt 
a convulsive pressure of the hand which was 
clasping mine. I looked up, to see that Sergius 
had turned deadly pale, and that he hastily 
leaned back and turned his head away from the 
stranger. 

But he was too late. She had seen him. 
Moreover, he was no stranger to her, as I could 
tell by the swift recognition which flashed across 
her features, and by a hasty forward movement 
that she made, as if to intercept our progress. 
The princess was not noticing the by-play. But 
that Prince Michaelow had seen and recognized 
the stranger I knew by the glances of dismayed 
intelligence which he exchanged with my liance. 

Soon after this we were back at the house of 
my generous friends, and three of us at least 
were less light-hearted than when we set out 
early in the afternoon. 

That evening I could not dismiss the stranger 
from my mind. Who was she? And what ac- 
quaintance could she have with Count Volkhcff- 
sky, who had been in London so short a time? 
But the prince knew her too, and both men had 
been distinctly dismayed when they saw her. 
Sergius had been so little away from me since 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


257 


we came to London that he could not have made 
many acquaintances of whom I did not know. 

Was it possible that he had known her in 
Russia? Kay, was it possible that this was the 
unknown rival in my lover’s affections which 
my jealous fancy had painted? And if so, how 
could he have transferred his regard from so 
handsome a woman to my insignificant self? 
And in this question I found consolation and 
hope for my own future. For Sergius must love 
me, or he would not have been anxious to marry 
one so utterly devoid of physical and pecuniary 
attractions as I was. Kot that I ever dreamed 
that he could be mercenary. But I had of late 
taken positive pleasure in the reflection that I 
owed my happiness to no external advantage 
which time or ill fortune could destroy. 

And yet, how could I marry the man I loved, 
if thereby I condemned another woman, who 
perhaps loved him equally well, to the misery of 
desertion? I could not reconcile it to my con- 
science to do this cruel thing. So I took an op- 
portunity of satisfying myself on that point be- 
fore Sergius went back to his hotel for the 
night. 

“Do you know,” I said to him, “I do not 
want you to think me intrusive. But I saw the 
young lady at Hyde Park Corner who seems to 
be an old friend of yours, and whom you seemed 


258 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


to wish to avoid. Tell me, for God’s sake, what 
is she to you?” 

“You saw her ?” he said, looking more 
startled than I liked to see. 

“Yes. What is she to you?” 

“I think, for the sake of your own peace of 
mind, that you had better not ask me.” 

“But I must know! Have you ever been her 
lover? If so, I must give you up to her, for I 
cannot purchase my paradise at the expense of 
another woman’s salvation.” 

“My darling! There spoke the noble woman 
whom I love, and whom, God helping me, I 
mean to cherish through life. Thank Heaven ! 
my past holds no dark secrets of that sort. It 
has been turbulent and full of danger, but, I 
swear before God, my love was given to no wo- 
man until I met you. Now, are you satisfied?” 

“Yes, I am satisfied,” I said, and I sank into 
his arms with a sob of relief which showed how 
terrible a phase of dread I had just passed 
through. 

“You naughty child,” said Sergius fondly. 
“How could you speak deliberately of giving me 
up to another woman? I am not like you. I 
would fight for my rights to the last breath. 
You have promised to marry me, and I will give 
you up to no one living. You are mine, mine 
alone!” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


259 


After this, my doubts being all dispelled, I 
was happy once more, and bade Sergius good- 
night with the exulting conviction that hence- 
forth the whole of my life would be spent in his 
beloved society. 

My wedding-morn dawned bright and cloud- 
less, and nothing intervened to prevent my mar- 
riage this time. My father came as the sole 
representative of my family, and explained that 
Lady Elizabeth had a severe cold which de- 
tained her at home. Otherwise she would have 
come up to town for the wedding. Belle was in 
London, he said, in answer to my inquiry, doing 
some shopping, but there was no reference made 
by either of us as to her absence on the occasion 
of her sister’s marriage. Jerry had sent me a 
letter, full of regrets at his own enforced ab^ 
sence, all couched in his own boyish style, and 
he supplemented these regrets by the promise of 
a long visit to me at Christmas. 

Dear boy! it did me good to read his affec- 
tionate chatter. 

My father made himself uncommonly agree- 
able to my friends, and I think that he must 
have begun to doubt the correctness of his own 
opinions concerning me, when he saw the esteem 
in which others held his hitherto despised daugh- 
ter. He pressed Sergius and myself so cordially 
to come on a visit to the Grange that I thought 


260 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


it would perhaps be better to bury the hatchet, 
even though I was inwardly convinced that if 
my. friends had been of low rank, and that if we 
had been a struggling clerk and his wife, instead 
of the Count and Countess Volkhoffsky, he 
would still have preferred our absence to our 
company. 

We were going to Torquay for a short honey- 
moon, after which we were to settle down in the 
luxurious home already prepared for our recep- 
tion. As I changed my bridal gown for the 
dress in which I was to travel, I contrasted my 
present bliss with the unhappy time which al- 
ready seemed to belong to the limbo of a better- 
to-be-forgotten past, and thanked God that I 
had won the love of so good and true a man as 
Sergius. 

Sergius had laughingly bidden me to make 
haste with my toilet, as he was in a fever of im- 
patience to have me to himself, and to feel that 
he really had secured the object he loved. 

I had just as laughingly responded, little 
thinking of the awful blow that was even then 
hovering over my head. On going to the draw- 
ing-room again I expected to encounter only 
Sergius and the Prince and Princess Michaelow, 
for my father had already taken his leave. 

But how shall I describe the sudden shock I 
experienced when I saw that Sergius was absent, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


261 


and that both my friends wore such a look of 
commiseration and distress as convinced me that 
something terrible had again happened to me. 

“Where is Sergius? What has- happenel?” 
I exclaimed, in sudden panic. 

For a moment neither of those whom I ques- 
tioned spoke. Then the prince came forward, 
and, clasping both my hands in his, said gently: 

“You must take heart, my child. Nothing 
dreadful has happened to your husband.” 

“Then why is he not here? And why do your 
looks belie your words?” 

“Sergius has had an unexpected summons.” 

“ Away from me?” 

“Yes, he has been compelled to go to Russia.” 

To Russia! To Russia, whither he had only 
j ust escaped, of all places ! And without a word 
of farewell to me, his bride of an hour ! 

Surely Fate was sporting with me, when, for 
the second time, she robbed me of a husband on 
my bridal day! 

But this stroke was harder than the other. 
The poor old earl had been claimed by Death. 
Sergius had left me, apparently of his own free 
will, and in the fullness of health and strength. 

Who or what was it that had a stronger claim 
upon him than I had? 


262 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


CHAPTER XI. 

“ The grip of death.” 

I verily believe that for the space of half an 
hour I was beside myself. But so far from being 
violent under my emotions, I was stunned by 
them, and rendered temporarily incapable of 
connected thought. Prince Michaelow was, I 
think, unable to endure the look of anguish 
which my face must have borne; for, after whis- 
pering a few words to his wife, he quitted the 
room, wearing an expression which even my 
dulied senses were able to construe into a con- 
viction of the hopelessness of expecting to see 
Sergius again. 

The Princess Nina sat down beside me, clasped 
my hands in hers, and comforted me more by 
her sympathetic attitude than words could have 
done. Presently my thoughts were able to col 
lect themselves again, and I began to question 
Nina eagerly. 

“How long has Sergius known that he would 
have to go back to Russia?” 

“Only a few minutes before he left.” 

“Why did he not bid me good-by first?” 

“He had not time. The summons was urgent. 
Besides, he loves you so dearly that he could 


ADVENTURES OE AN UGLY GIRL. 


263 


not have borne to witness your distress at his 
departure.” 

“If he loved me half so dearly as you say, he 
would not have forsaken me at anybody’s call.” 

“But he was compelled to go! It was his 
sacred duty to do so.” 

“Then he ought to have taken me with him. 
If he is in danger, who so fit to bear him com- 
pany as his wife? And to whom can he owe a 
more sacred duty than to me? Have I not been 
told more than once that all his near relatives 
are dead? Then who is there left to call him 
from me? Ah! now I have it! It is the wo- 
man whom I saw recognize him at Hyde Park 
Corner, and whom he tried to avoid ! Who is 
she?” 

“My dear child, now you ask of me more than 
I know. But you may rest assured upon this 
point. If any woman exerts influence over him, 
and has used that influence to bring about your 
husband’s return to Russia, her motive and 
power are purely political. You know that 
Sergius has been very much involved with secret 
societies, and your knowledge of his character 
ought to assure you that nothing but the most 

irresistible claims upon him could have induced 

» 

him to leave you at this juncture, to return to 
a country of which every inch is fraught with 
danger to him.” 


264 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

“Then I ought to be with him! Is it right 
that I should remain in a land of peace and 
safety, while he rushes into the jaws of death ?” 

“My dear child, his chances of security are 
much better while he is alone. If you were 
with him, he would perhaps have to neglect the 
duty to which he is called, in order to watch 
over your safety.’’ 

“And suppose he did?” 

“Then he would meet certain and speedy death 
which you would no doubt share.” 

“I don’t understand you.’’ 

“Perhaps not. I had better be more explicit. 
Years ago, your husband joined a society which 
had for its object the removal of the Emperor 
Alexander. It is one of the rules of this society 
that its members shall unhesitatingly perform 
any duty which the Executive Council may deem 
necessary for the welfare of the country. A 
ballot decides which of the members shall under- 
take any given task. Sergius has hitherto es- 
caped the ballot. But, even as he almost ran 
from the house, he said that his turn had come; 
that he could not bid you farewell himself, and 
that if we never saw him agai n, we would know 
that he had done his duty. You think me cruel 
to tell ^ou all this, dear; but I know your strong 
sense of what is right, and am sure that you 
would rather think of Sergius as dead than as 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


265 


one who could betray either his country or his 
wife.” 

Think of him as dead ! 

Sometimes, when I remember that scene, I 
wonder how it is that I did not go mad. Or 
that the phantom mockery of joy which had 
again eluded me did not leave brain and heart 
alike seared with hatred of all mankind. 

But, after all, both hearts and brains can bear 
an enormous strain ere they fail their owners, 
and mine proved themselves to be at least of 
average strength. They both survived this new 
ordeal, and soon after this I was back in my 
dressing-room, anxiously trying to reduce into 
less chaotic sequence the thoughts which chased 
each other through my mind. 

Was Sergius really lost to me forever? And 
was the errand he was bent upon as terrible as 
Nina’s words suggested? 

Alas ! what room for doubt was left me? He 
belonged to a secret society, which had for its 
object the removal of the Emperor Alexander. 
There was only one way in which an obscure 
society could compass that removal. 

Its members would no doubt term it justice. 
The world would call it assassination. But to 
me the contemplated deed had only one name by 
which it could be fitly designated — murder! 
That was what was meant. And look where I 


266 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


would, that self-same word stared me in the face 
with demoniac persistence. 

Murder! Good Heaven! was my whole life 
to be darkened by its foul environment? Did 
not my poor old earl become its victim? And 
was not my own sister an object of secret horror 
to me because I knew her to have worshiped at 
its shrine? 

And now my newly- wedded husband, who 
was dearer to me than aught else on the face of 
the earth, was being drawn into its fearsome 
toils ! What was it to me that he believed the 
czar to be a tyrant and oppressor, and that he 
was but doing the bidding of his superiors in 
office? Whatever the motive, or whatever the 
provocation, the deed would be the same. I 
have, I think, a strong sense of the duty owing 
to one’s country. But, if a Charlotte Corday 
had been my ancestress, I should have made 
very degenerate descendant; for I prefer moral 
suasion to physical force, and the assassination 
of the most objectionable tyrant would weigh on 
my conscience like lead. 

And, since Sergius was now part and parcel 
of my being, everything that touched him 
touched me. Could. I bear the thought that the 
guilt of murder lay on his conscience — on our 
conscience? I knew that I could not, and I 
prayed God to forbid that this evil thing should 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


267 


come to pass. Prayer alone would not avail me, 
I knew, since God helps those who help them- 
selves. I must act, if I would compass my 
desire. 

Yet what, after all, could I do? After an 
hour’s almost maddened thought I succeeded in 
forming something like a definite plan of action. 
I would follow Sergius as quickly as a fast 
through service could take me. As to whither 
I was to follow him must be speedily discov- 
ered, else I might arrive on the spot too late to 
effect my purpose. 

Said purpose was to frustrate the errand upon 
which my husband had been summoned. If I 
succeeded in doing so, what would be the conse- 
quences to him? Would the secret society to 
which he belonged, on finding its mandates out- 
raged, avenge itsolf upon him? And would the 
salvation of his soul from bloodguiltiness prove 
his own death knell? 

Truly, it was hard for me to know my own 
duty. But in one respect I did not hesitate. I 
was determined to follow my husband to Russia 
as soon as possible, in order that, if an oppor- 
tunity offered, I might at least be on the spot to 
do what seemed right. 

But, first, I must discover exactly where Ser- 
gius had gone to. And I must so comport my- 
self as to hide my real intentions from Prince 


268 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


Michaelow and his wife. Otherwise they might 
decline to give me the information I sought, 
since I could, not expect them to enter into all 
my thoughts and feelings respecting my hus- 
band’s expedition. 

Thus it happened that my outward bearing 
was that of one who is already resigned to her 
fate, when I begged them to give me some in- 
formation that would enable me to picture the 
whereabout of my husband until he returned to 
me. I knew that my friends had very faint 
hopes that he would ever return. But they were 
also acting a part. They wished to blind me 
concerning the real gravity of the situation, in 
order to preserve me from the shock of sudden 
and hopeless bereavement. The interview was, 
in fact, a little comedy which had for its motif 
the enshroudment of a terrible tragedy. 

But it sufficed my purpose. I learned all that 
my friends could tell me, and when I begged to 
be excused from dining with my hosts, on the 
plea of being too ill and sick at heart for any 
society but my own, I was not wasting my time 
in self-indulgent grief, as was imagined, but 
was hastily gathering together everything that 
I could conveniently take which would be neces- 
sary for a long journey. 

I had even room to feel thankful that I had 
received so many valuable presents of jewelry, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


269 


which might, on occasion, be turned into cash, 
and that the generosity of my friends had pre- 
vented me from spending much of the money 
which Lady Elizabeth had sent to me. Neither 
money nor jewelry took up much room, and it 
was an object with me to be as unencumbered as 
possible. I already knew something of the exi- 
gencies of sudden departures, and had no mind 
to take anything that would hinder my progress. 

Luckily for my present purpose, Sergius and 
I, in view of a possible Continental trip, had 
studied Bradshaw to some purpose lately, and I 
now had little difficulty in extracting some in- 
formation that would guide me to Moscow, 
whither I was told that Sergius had gone. 

My newly-engaged maid was not a little be* 
wildered by the turn of events. But she proved 
amenable to reason and did as she was bid with- 
out questioning. I told her to fetch me a han- 
som, and to tell the driver to stop at the trades- 
men’s entrance, where my portmanteau was put 
into the vehicle. Then, accompanied by my 
maid, I also went out by the tradesmen' s en- 
trance, my object in doing so being to escape 
the observation of the Prince and Princess Mi- 
chaelow, who might have noticed my departure 
from the front door, and who would then assur- 
edly have tried to dissuade me from following 
Sergius. 


270 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

On arriving at Victoria Station I found that 
I had thirty-five minutes to spare. This I oc- 
cupied in visiting a hairdresser’s shop in the 
vicinity. Here I was enabled to purchase a gray 
wig and sundry etceteras which would effectu- 
ally transform my outward semblance into that 
of a staid, elderly lady who would not be thought 
unfit to travel unescorted. I had already pur- 
chased a quiet black bonnet and a long black 
cloak from my maid, and felt sure that my ul- 
timate transformation would be complete enough 
to deceive even Sergius, if he saw me. 

At half-past eight I left Victoria, after giving 
the maid some messages for the Michaelows. 
She was to tell them that I thanked them for all 
their kindness to me, and that I felt it to be my 
duty to join my husband at once, without risk- 
ing the delay which even my best wishers might 
possibly consider advisable. 

I was not without hope that I might see Ser- 
gius even before I left the boat, or, at all events, 
before I had been long en route . But he had 
probably not taken the same direction that I was 
taking, and I felt bitterly disappointed when I 
failed to overtake him. I was at Brussels by 
five o’clock in the morning, and twelve hours 
later was in Cologne. The next morning saw 
me on the way to Berlin, and I pushed on thence 
to Alexandrovo with as little delay as possible. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


271 


I represented myself as an English lady on her 
way to Moscow to visit her sister’s family, and 
had not much difficulty in obtaining a passport. 
In two hours from leaving Alexandrovo I was 
in Warsaw. Now that I had crossed the fron- 
tier I was in momentary dread of betraying my- 
self by overanxiety, and did my best to appear 
as careless and joy-expecting as if I verily ex- 
pected nothing more exciting than a reunion 
with my sister. 

But in W arsaw I felt so ill with suspense, dis- 
appointment, and travel-fatigue, that I was 
compelled to rest at a hotel for a day, in order 
to recruit my strength sufficiently to complete 
my long journey without a breakdown. Two 
days later I reached Moscow, via Smolensk, and 
then the fever of unrest and anxiety allowed me 
no ease for a time. 

Suppose Sergius were not here, after all ! Sup- 
pose some accident had befallen him, and I had 
actually passed him on the way! In fact, no 
end of suppositions suggested themselves to me, 
as I drove to a hotel in which Sergius had, I 
knew, found a safe resting-place on more than 
one occasion. 

Now I did not expect to encounter my hus- 
band at the public table-d’hote , nor, indeed, in 
any of the public rooms. He had come upon a 
secret errand, and he was not likely to ruin his 


272 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

chances of executing that errand by leading too 
open a life. I felt the burning blush of double- 
distilled shame on my cheeks even as I thought 
this. Shame at the idea of any one whom I 
loved lending himself to crime even at his coun- 
try’s bidding, and shame that I, so much the 
inferior of Count Sergius Volkhoffsky, should 
dare to judge him by my own inexperienced 
standard of right and morality. 

Perhaps, when I knew all his reasons for com- 
ing hither, I might even sanction the fulfillment 
of his task. Perhaps — but here I suddenly 
pulled myself up in horror, for was I not ap- 
proaching perilously near to a line of argument 
which might ruin my peace of mind forever? 
Sanction murder? How could I for one single 
moment imagine myself capable of such an 
iniquity ! 

Rest and comfortable refreshment did wonders 
for me, and, on the day after my arrival in Mos- 
cow, I sat in the salon, eagerly scanning a Ger- 
man paper which the hotel management had 
provided for the use of visitors. From it I gath- 
ered that the czar was expected in Moscow, but 
that some rearrangement of plans at St. Peters- 
burg had caused a postponement of the Imperial 
visit. 

How utterly unlikely it would have seemed to 
those around me that the emperor’s visit to 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 273 

Moscow could possibly concern me! And yet 
what a paean of thankfulness rose from my heart 
as I realized that this postponement of which I 
had just read meant the deferring of what might 
prove the greatest tragedy of my life. I knew 
that Sergius could not hope to enter St. Peters- 
burg without detection, and that it was hardly 
likely that those who at the present -time had 
the power to direct his movements would order 
him thither, since he was so well known there, 
and had already been denounced to the govern- 
ment. This delay gave me a chance of meeting 
him soon, and of at least trying to weigh my in- 
fluence against that of the terrible secret society 
of which he was a member. 

On the second day of my stay in Moscow my 
wish was gratified. I saw my beloved in the 
flesh, safe and well, and yet, incredible as it 
seems to me now, I gave no outward sign of the 
rapture which filled my breast. He was very 
well disguised, but my love was so keen that it 
could have penetrated even more elaborate dis- 
guises than the one he had adopted, while it was 
so cautious that not even to himself would I be- 
tray my knowledge of him until I could feel sure 
that no mortal eye but ours beheld our meeting. 

As I had expected, he was an inmate of the 
same hotel in which I had pitched my temporary 
habitation, and when I first saw him there he 


274 ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 

was emerging from the room next to mine, just 
as I approached my room door, after partaking 
of breakfast in the coffee-room. There were 
other people in the corridor at the time, so I 
quietly entered my own apartment and closed 
the door behind me, for my joy would have been 
too visible if I had done otherwise. 

But I knew that I should see Sergius again, 
for I knew also that he was certain to remain in 
Moscow until the expected visit of the czar took 
place. Now that I had discovered the very loca- 
tion of his roorn, it would be easy for me to 
watch his movements, or at least so I thought. 
It was, however, nearly nightfall ere I, peeping 
through the chink of my partially opened door, 
saw him return to his own room. And even 
then it was impossible for me to make myself 
known to him, for he was accompanied by a 
stranger who might be either friend or foe, for 
anything I knew. 

So I waited perforce with augmented impa- 
tience until my longed-for opportunity should 
come. It was very hard to know that he was 
within a few feet of me, yet separated from me 
by the barriers of caution and expediency for an 
indefinite period. How astonished he would be 
when he learned how very near I was to him ! 
And what hopes I pitched upon my persuasive 
powers ! No wonder that my impatience rose to 
an almost agonizing pitch as the hours wore on, 
and the stranger still lingered in my husband’s 
room. 

I would have tried to listen to the conversa- 
tion of the two men, had I conceived it to be of 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 275 


the slightest use. But there was no conven- 
iently placed connecting-door between the two 
rooms through which scraps of conversation, if 
not carried on in a low key, might have been 
heard, and the constantly frequented corridor 
was not an ideal resort for an eavesdropper. So 
I was obliged to bide my time, ere I could make 
any sign of my presence to Sergius. 

At last the low, unintelligible murmur of 
voices ceased and there were indications that a 
move was being made in the next room. “At 
last!” I thought, “my weary probation is nearty 
over. Sergius will soon be alone, and I can then 
slip a note under his door that will warn him of 
my presence.” 

But picture my disappointment when the two 
men passed my room-door together! Sergius 
was going out again with the stranger, and I 
might not have another chance of seeing him 
again to-night. For a moment I hesitated as to 
what course to follow. Then I resolved to keep 
my husband in sight, and to ascertain, if pos- 
sible, whither he was going. 

I was convinced that, be he never so cautious, 
he was in danger from all sides, and, though 
not probable, it was certainly possible that I 
might be of service to him. ISTina had told me 
that my presence near my husband would only 
be another source of worry and danger to him. 
But I could not bring myself to believe this, for 
I was resolved to be cautiousness itself. 

Indeed, I was so cautious that Sergius and 
his companion were almost out of sight when I 
emerged from the hotel portico, and I had to ac- 


276 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


celerate my speed considerably before I succeeded 
in bringing myself within measurable distance 
of them. Sergius wore a gray wig and a flowing 
beard of the same venerable hue. This in itself 
would not have been disguise sufficient to blind 
any one inclined to be suspicious of his identity. 
But that he never lost sight of the extreme peril- 
ousness of his position was borne into my mind 
by his adoption of a somewhat feeble gait and 
carriage, more in unison with his assumption of 
the character of an old man than his own light, 
swinging walk would have been. 

The stranger seemed young, being of a lithe, 
supple figure, and destitute of hirsute adorn- 
ment. He wore smoked glasses, and his face 
was disfigured by a singular contortion, which 
seemed to draw his features all to one side. Now 
and again, as they passed under a gas-lamp, I 
was able to scrutinize them closely, and it did 
not take me long to decide their errand was a 
secret one, for they glanced back from time to 
time, as if apprehensive of being followed, and 
doubled up one street and down another, with 
such a reckless disregard of distance and prob- 
able fatigue that I was convinced they were 
trying to elude pursuit. 

By the time this sort of thing had gone on for 
over an hour, I began to feel desperately tired, 
and was seriously contemplating the necessity 
of returning to the hotel, when I saw something 
that convinced me that Sergius needed some one 
to give him a friendly warning, and banished 
ail sense of fatigue. 

The two men were being followed, A man 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 277 

stepped from a doorway after they had passed 
it, and, slouching into first one corner, then an- 
other, contrived to keep near them, although he 
did his best to avoid being seen in his turn. 

In an instant I thought of Count Karenieff. 
Was it possible that he or his myrmidons were 
already on the trail? That the fiends had al- 
most got my husband in their power, and that 
his denunciation was already a thing accom- 
plished ! 

At thought of this awful possibility I turned 
sick with dread. But I no longer hesitated 
about revealing my own presence. At all haz- 
ards, Sergius must be warned. He must be 
made aware that an enemy dogged his footsteps. 
And he must be cautioned against betraying 
the secret resort of the Society to those interested 
in, and intent upon, its destruction. 

With this object in view, I sprang forward, 
and would soon have reached my husband’s side, 
but for an occurrence which was as unexpected 
as it was horrifying to me. The man who was 
acting the spy upon Sergius and his companion 
had also come to some sudden resolution; for he 
also sprang forward, but was intercepted by two 
individuals who appeared to have come upon the 
spot by magic. 

I saw the glitter of gleaming steel, as a dag- 
ger flashed in the moonlight. I heard a stifled, 
gurgling cry, and before I could echo it, I felt 
myself gripped by the throat and rendered for 
the moment incapable of uttering a sound. It 
seemed to me that my last moment had come. 
My tongue clove to the roof of my mouth ; my 


278 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


breath seemed to be forsaking me ; my eyes felt 
as if they were starting from their sockets, and 
the horrible dread of immediate violent death 
possessed me. 

Presently — the time may have been a few sec- 
onds; to me it seemed an age — the pressure was 
taken from my throat, and even as my senses 
we're leaving me I felt a gag put in my mouth ; 
some heavy garment was thrown over me; I was 
lifted from the ground, and was borne away, 
possibly to endure a fate which I was no longer 
even capable of imagining. 


CHAPTER XII. 

“ In mortal peril.” 

When I once more became conscious of my 
surroundings, I was seated in a chair, in the 
center of a large, low-ceiled apartment, of which 
the atmosphere was chill and damp and the 
light feeble. I was supported on either side by 
a figure clad in a long gray cloak and wearing 
a gray hood and scarlet domino. As my scared 
senses reasserted themselves more fully, I could 
see that the room was peopled by many other 
figures similarly attired, and that my presence 
among them was the central subject of interest. 

Nay, there was one other object that must 
have been of even more horrible interest than I 
was ! In front of the chair upon which I was 
seated there lay a recumbent figure, covered by 
a large square of black cloth. It was outlined 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 279 

with horrible distinctness, and a shudder ran 
through me as I realized that this was the dead 
body of the man I had seen struck down while 
in the act of shadowing my husband for some 
purpose unknown to me, though I could not have 
imagined that purpose anything but inimical to 
his safety. 

And where was he, the beloved object for 
whose sake I had braved the dangers which now 
encompassed me? I looked around me, hoping 
to recognize his figure among the many with 
which I was surrounded. But alas! the en- 
shrouding cloaks and obscuring dominos would 
not permit recognition, and my heart sank 
within me as I thought that even were he here 
he might find it impossible to be of service to 
ne without endangering his own life. 

At the end of the chamber in which I now 
found myself was a slightly raised, platform upon 
which were seated seven or eight of the cloaked 
figures. But I noticed that in their case the 
cloak was black and the domino yellow, and I 
^conjectured rightly that they were the rulers of 
the assembly. I was feeling acute bodily suf- 
fering, yet that was for the time lost sight of in 
the horror of possible speedy annihilation. 

Have any of my readers ever been in a situa- 
tion of mortal terror? If so, they will be able to 
realize the acuteness of perception with which I 
regarded everything around me, and the miracu- 
lous swiftness with which the most irrelevant 
ideas chased each other through my brain. Even 
while trying to pierce the disguise of my possible 
judges, I found, myself wondering how dear lit- 


280 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

tie Jerry was getting on, and whether Belle’s 
wedding would be postponed again or not. 

But, after what seemed an interminable time, 
the silence was at last broken by a voice which 
ordered, in deep, impressive tones, “Remove 
that covering.” 

Instantly four figures approached the object 
lying in front of me, two from either side of the 
room, and each one silently lifted a corner of 
the cloth, and doubled it back, so as to expose the 
corpse of a man whose countenance wore such 
an expression of terror and agony as made me 
use desperate efforts to cover my face with my 
hands. But they were held tight by the two per- 
sons who supported me on my seat, and the same 
sonorous voice which I had already heard com- 
manded me to look upon the face that lay in 
front of me, and ponder upon the fate mapped 
out for all traitors to their country. 

Such a command was not reassuring, and. I 
relapsed into trembling passivity, while black 
cloaks and gray cloaks proceeded to try the mur- 
dered man after he was dead. 

“What is the name of that traitor?” was the 
question I heard, from the lips of the man who 
seemed to be the president of the assembly. 

“Karol Gratowitzki. ” 

“What was his crime?” 

“He was a government spy.” 

“And his special mission?” 

“To dog the footsteps of Humber Finis.” . 

“Then he deserves his fate. Who was the 
avenger?” 

“Humber Sixteen.” 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 281 

“Then his exemption from future death-service 
has been earned.” 

At these words the man who had replied to 
the above questions stepped forward, bowed, to 
those who were seated on the platform, uttered 
a formula, of which I did not catch the import, 
and then ranged himself upon the opposite side 
of the room to the one he had previously been 
standing at. 

“Remove the body,” was the next command. 
In another moment the board upon which the 
dead man had been laid was re-covered, and was 
lifted up by four figures, who marched down the 
room with it, and. disappeared through a low 
door, which was bolted after their exit, amid a 
dead, silence on the part of those left behind. 

“How my turn is at hand,” I thought, feeling 
sick with dread, and looking in vain for a 
friendly sparkle in the eyes of the silent figures 
around me. My premonition was correct, for 
the next words I heard referred to myself. 

“Who is the prisoner?” 

“We do not know,” was the reply. 

“How came she here?” 

“She was spying upon one of our chosen.” 

“Did she betray antagonistic intentions?” 

“Yes; she sprang forward, as if to strike, 
simultaneously with the man who has already 
been removed.” 

“What weapons has she in her possession?” 

“Hone that we have seen. She has not yet 
been searched.” 

“Remove her, and search her.” 

Up to this point I had. remained silent, for my 


282 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

tongue refused to utter a sound. But the pros- 
pect of suffering the indignity of having my 
clothing removed for the purpose of examina- 
tion made me utter a startled protest. There 
was, indeed, a tiny English revolver hidden in 
my dress for defensive purposes. But how was 
I to convince these stern martinets that I would 
never have dreamed of hurting any one, unless 
it was absolutely necessary, in order to save 
either my own life or my husband’s. 

“Indeed!” I cried, forgetting that I was not 
speaking to a meeting of English people, “I as- 
sure you that I am innocent of the remotest in- 
tention of injuring any one belonging to you. 
And surely I have already suffered indignity 
enough!” 

There was a slight movement of surprise, as 
if my nationality had been unsuspected, and then 
one of the black-cloaked, figures who had hitherto 
not spoken stepped forward, and addressed the 
president in a low tone. ^Receiving an affirma- 
tive reply to some suggestion which he offered, 
he proceeded to cross-question me in very good 
English. 

I am sure that I created an unfavorable im- 
pression where I was most anxious to be concili- 
atory, for, after partially unfolding my story, I 
was seized with sudden alarm on behalf of Ser- 
gius, and forthwith became as reticent as I had 
a few moments before been voluble. For was it 
not possible that undue candor on my part might 
betray some secret hitherto carefully preserved 
by my husband? Suppose his marriage, while 
still a member of this dread society, was against 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 283 

the rules? And suppose I were betraying a 
secret that might prove fatal to him, if I spoke 
of his recent absence from the country for which 
he had sworn to give up his life? Of all that 
concerned his connection with the people who 
now had me in their power he had told me noth- 
ing, and in all likelihood his reticence on this 
subject was entirely due to considerations of 
personal safety. Perhaps he was under oath to 
reveal nothing. How, then, was I to account 
not merely for my knowledge of the fact that he 
was a member of this society, but of the still 
more perilous secret of his motive for returning 
to Russia? Or of my own object in following 
him? 

Would not my admission that my presence in 
Moscow was the result of my private determina- 
tion to frustrate an event which they regarded 
as necessary for the salvation of their country be 
sufficient to procure my own death-warrant as 
well as my husband’s ? Mine because they 
must necessarily regard me as an enemy, his be- 
cause he was, even if unwillingly, the cause of 
my knowledge of their deadly secret. Alas! 
where was he? Surely, if he were present, he 
would at once have tried to save me from the 
summary fate which hung over me. And yet, 
to do so might be to risk his own safety. 

Truly, vanity was never reproved more cruelly 
than mine was then! When the Princess Nina 
had told me that, so far from my presence near 
him being advantageous to Sergius, it might 
prove an additional source of peril, I did not 
believe her, since I meant to be too cautious to 


284 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


run into danger. And here I was, in dire ex- 
tremity, and likely to involve my dear husband 
in my own ruin, all because I had had too much 
faith in the superiority of my own judgment. 

The position, too, was one that was very diffi- 
cult to understand. How did I come to be 
classed with the man who had already suc- 
cumbed to the swift vengeance of this terrible 
society? The solution of this question was be- 
yond my powers, but I was at least able to grasp 
one fact. Sergius must be the Humber Finis 
whom the stranger was said to have been shad- 
owing. And his safety was of such importance 
to the society that protectors, two and three 
deep, followed in his wake. 

Some of these must have watched, my pursuit 
of him, and must have imagined me to be his 
enemy. As this thought thrust itself forward, 
I began to feel less despairing, but could still 
not quite determine whether his speedy arrival 
on the scene would be conducive to my salva- 
tion, or to his undoing, and my brain became so 
bewildered that I hardly knew whether to pray 
for his prompt arrival or for his continued ab- 
sence. There had been a break in the stern 
mode of conducting the inquiry. The door was 
silently opened by the janitor, in response to a 
signal from without, and three persons entered, 
who evidently brought news of stirring import, 
though its nature was not permitted to reach my 
ears. There was a buzz of excited, voices, and 
the prevailing feeling seemed to be one of con- 
sternation. Several people who had hitherto 
kept silent joined in the conversation, and some 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 285 

hurriedly left the apartment. Although I had 
made wonderful progress with the Russian lan- 
guage, it was still beyond my power to compre- 
hend very rapidly spoken utterances, and even 
if the discussion had been carried on in a louder 
tone I might still have been unable to grasp its 
full import. But I could at least tell that the 
news received was provocative of grief in the 
breasts of some of this mysterious assemblage of 
people, while others were stirred to menacing 
anger. 

How this anger might affect my own fate was 
impossible for me to tell. But at all events I 
had. received a momentary respite, and the dread 
of instant death was removed from me. Even 
my hands were now released, and had I been 
able to do so I might have stood up unhindered. 
But I was sick and giddy, from the combined 
effects of the violence to which I had been sub- 
jected, and. of the mental distress under which I 
was laboring, and could now do no more than 
gaze helplessly around me, and wonder why 
Sergius did not come to my rescue. 

Presently the excitement abated again, and. 
the cloaked figures resumed their places, the 
three latest comers approaching close to where 
I was sitting. 

“How, Brother Finis,” said the president, 
“look closely at this woman, who was caught 
dogging your footsteps, in company with a man 
whom we know to have been a government spy, 
and tell us if you have seen her before.” 

My heart leaped to my mouth at these words. 
This must be Sergius, although the ample folds 


28G ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

of his cloak, and his hood and domino, had pre- 
vented me from recognizing him. 

Hastily stepping forward, he now obtained a 
full view of me for the first time. He did not 
recognize me for a moment, owing to my disfig- 
uring wig. But when I looked appealingly at 
him, clasped my hands in an attitude of distress, 
'and sobbed just the one word “Sergius!” he 
started as if struck by lightning. 

The next instant he had pushed both my bon- 
net and my wig from my forehead, disclosing 
my own dark curls, and as at last I succumbed 
again to the faintness which had oppressed me 
for so long, I heard my husband’s voice exclaim : 

“My God! This is my wife!” 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“ Paying the Penalty.” 

“Look up, my darling, you are safe now,” 
were the next words of which my returning con- 
sciousness was cognizant. Opening my eyes, I 
saw those of Sergius bent anxiously upon me, 
and thankfully realized that I was embraced by 
his strong arms and pillowed upon his warm 
breast. Surely it was as he said. I was no 
longer in danger, and might give all necessary 
explanations without the paralyzing presence of 
an assembly which put patriotism before every 
other duty to humanity. 

“Thank God, I have found you!” I mur- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 287 

mured, while the tears of relief flowed down my 
cheeks. “Oh, Sergius! how could, you leave me 
without one word of farewell?” 

“I was compelled in honor to come here with- 
out an instant’s delay. And it was hard enough 
to tear myself away on my wedding-day, with- 
out undergoing the agony of parting. Besides, 
I knew that you would refuse to let me come 
without you, and I dreaded to involve you in 
danger.” 

“Yet you did not dread danger for my hus- 
band, who is dearer to me than life.” 

“Indeed I did! But I dreaded dishonor still 
more. And there was another danger of which 
you are doubtless still ignorant. Had I not an- 
swered in person the telegram which summoned 
me hither, sudden death, at the hands of out- 
raged patriotism, would have overtaken me in 
England. For our Society, which may strike 
you as a small one, has its ramifications all over 
Europe, and it never spares those who break 
their oath of obedience.” 

“But you barely escaped from St. Petersburg 
without falling into the hands of enemies, and 
even the strictest Society could hardly accuse 
you of leaving the country to evade your oath.” 

By this time all haziness had left my mind, 
and I felt altogether stronger. I raised myself 
into a sitting posture, and prepared for my first 
attempt to wean my husband from his determi- 
nation to do all which his associates wished 
him to do. I looked around me to see that we 
were quite alone, in a small room, and that the 
door, which no doubt communicated with the 


288 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

larger apartment, was firmly closed. Then, with 
momentarily augmenting excitement, I began 
to tell Sergius all about my own journey hither. 

“And do you know my principal object in 
following you?” I continued. “Nina told me 
that the special duty which demanded your pres- 
ence here was the removal of the czar. For 
.God’s sake, don’t lend yourself to so dreadful 
a deed ! I could not bear to think of you as a 
murderer. ’ ’ 

Even as I made this appeal I saw that it was 
utterly useless. Sergius had pushed his domino 
aw^ay from his face, and there was nothing to 
hinder me from noting that he had blanched con- 
siderably and that his eyes gathered an expres- 
sion of mingled anger and anxiety. 

“Dora,” he said firmly, “you are treading on 
ground that is more dangerous than you dream 
of. Nina was a very foolish woman to make 
such a wild assertion, and you are still more 
foolish to act upon her information. Had I 
deemed it advisable, I would gladly have 
brought you with me. As I did not think such 
a course wise, I overconfidently imagined that 
my friends would have used some measure of 
discreetness. I certainly did not give Nina the 
particulars of my mission to Moscow, and even 
if I had done so, I should never have dreamed 
that she would betray my confidence.” 

“Indeed, Sergius,” I protested, “Nina is the 
last woman in the world to betray her friends, 
and it was because she saw me tortured with all 
sorts of conflicting fears that she showed me the 
purely political nature of your sudden departure, 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


289 


which she no doubt knew without fresh informa- 
tion from you. And she certainly never dreamed 
that I would follow you, for I did not give her 
the slightest hint of my intention to do so. It 
was surely better for her to enlighten me than to 
leave me a prey to the misery of unexplained 
desertion.” 

‘‘Perhaps you are right, Dora. All the same, 
your arrival here will certainly complicate mat- 
ters for me. Still, I can understand your desire 
to learn as much as possible — and, why, I do 
believe you must have been suffering from jeal- 
ousy! Tell me, is that so?” 

“Well, I knew that you had seen a woman at 
Hyde Park Corner, whom you would have liked 
to avoid while with me. She knew you, I could 
tell. And she is so much handsomer than I am 
that you must own it was natural for me t’o im- 
agine her power to be of a different nature to 
what it has proved.” 

“How do you know yet that she had anything 
to do with my sudden departure?” 

“I don’t know. I can only conjecture.” 

“Well, I will tell you. You have gone 
through such a bitter trial, and have suffered so 
much, that I cannot be angry with you, even for 
doubting my love. Vera Vassoffskoy is a mem- 
ber of our Fraternity. So also is her husband. 
Both have sad reason to hate an oppressive gov- 
ernment, for it has robbed them both of kindred 
and fortune. But Madame Vassoffskoy, though 
at one with us in all our general plans, hates in- 
dividual bloodshed. She was on a secret mis- 
sion to London when she saw me. Before she 


290 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

left Moscow, she knew that the ballot had fallen 
upon me, with reversion to her husband in the 
event of my failure to appear on the scene in 
time. I shrank back when I saw her, for I re- 
garded it as an evil omen to be confronted with 
my secret obligations on my wedding-day. But 
she was determined not to lose sight of me, and 
tracked us home by means of a cab which she 
called to her assistance. Having found my ad- 
dress, her next proceeding was to have an official 
message conveyed to me, commanding my in- 
stant return to Russia, to fulfill the great plan for 
relieving the sufferings of our oppressed country. 
Death is the reward of disobedience to the man- 
dates of the Executive Council, and my grief at 
leaving you at such a time showed me that I 
could not have done my duty to my country if 
I had witnessed your distress. Hark! there is 
the signal! Our time is up, and we seem to 
have explained so little. And you still look so 
ill!” 

“Indeed, I am quite recovered now, and will 
give you no trouble. To be with you is all I 
want to make me happy and well.” 

It was even so. I felt that, by his side, I 
could bid defiance to the threatenings of fate. 
Sergius tightened his arms round me and kissed 
me with all a young husband’s devotion. But 
his caresses were rather those of one who is bid- 
ding a painful farewell than of one just reunited 
to the idol of his heart, after a trying separation. 

“You must trust me, darling, whatever be- 
falls,” he whispered; and, could it be true? were 
those tears of grief which trickled down his 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


291 


cheeks? I stood up in suddenly returned alarm, 
but before I could question him at all there was 
a much louder knock at the door than the first 
one had been. Another second, and it was 
thrown open. Sergius hastily replaced his dom- 
ino, and, kissing me once more, said: “I am 
ready.” 

The next moment I was standing alone in the 
little room. Sergius had gone. The door was 
closed and bolted, and I was a prisoner once 
more. 

Still I did not, for some time, realize that my 
isolation and detention were to be of a prolonged 
nature. But when more than an hour passed 
away, and I had listened to the gradual dying 
out of all sounds in the outer room, I was seized 
by a species of panic. Was it possible that I 
had really brought danger upon the head of 
Sergius, and that he had already paid the penalty 
for my rashness? 

I had seen with what little compunction the 
presumed spy had been dispatched, and my de- 
spairing fancy pictured my dear one already 
weltering in his blood, while I would perhaps 
be left to die in this cell of cold and starvation. 
There was a little light available for me, though 
not within my reach. It shone through an ele- 
vated grating which communicated with the 
larger apartment, and after a time this circum- 
stance afforded me a little hope. 

I concluded that, though the meeting was 
probably over, the place could not be entirely 
deserted. Otherwise the lights, feeble as they 
were, would most likely be extinguished. Then 


292 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


a new horror seized me. How many murders 
might have been committed on these premises ! 
And how many corpses might be buried within 
a few yards of. me ! 

I am not superstitious, in the general accep- 
tation of the term. But I always had a horror 
of the near presence of death, and even the most 
strong-minded among those who may become 
acquainted with my history will admit that my 
circumstances and surroundings were uncanny 
enough to raise the hair of a much less nervous 
individual than myself. 

My watch told me that I had been immured 
in this underground room for two hours, and I 
was feeling faint and sick with hunger; for it 
was now verging on dawn, and I had had very 
little food all the previous day, being too much 
engrossed in watching for Sergius to attend 
properly to my own bodily needs. Sleep refused 
me its refreshing aid, though I would gladly 
have welcomed the "temporary oblivion of my 
surroundings which it might have given me. 

After a time I fell into a species of semi- 
stupor, from which I was roused by the entrance 
of Sergius into my prison. 

I am not sure that coherency of thought was 
not banished from me even after my husband 
had pressed wine and food upon my acceptance. 
I know now that I mechanically availed myself 
of the refreshment brought to me, but I cannot 
recall what transpired for a while, until a flood of 
tears relieved my brain from the pressure which 
the strength of my emotions exercised upon it. 

Then I was able to comprehend all tha,t Ser- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 293 

gius had to tell me, and to realize how very 
nearly I had compassed his ruin, though I did 
not know until afterward what a battle he had 
had with the sterner members of the Society, 
whose motto was “Death to everything through 
which our plans may risk betrayal.” 

Briefly, the position was this. 

Sergius had been strictly cross-examined com 
cerning me, and had beenr able to convince his 
interrogators that I was really his wife. They 
were also satisfied as to my fidelity and attach- 
ment to him. But they declined to trust my 
discretion at a time when a word might betray 
their plans, and ruin their hopes of revolutioniz- 
ing the country. It was therefore decreed that 
I was to be kept a close prisoner until such time 
as Sergius should have fulfilled the obligations 
that the Society demanded of him. 

“In other words,” I said, with a shudder, “I 
am never to recover my freedom until you have 
committed a hideous crime that would haunt us 
all our lives. I would rather die at once.” 

“My poor child! you speak out of the igno- 
rance born of residence in a free and happy 
country,” said Sergius sadly. “Could you but 
faintly realize the horror and misery that oppress 
the subjects of the ozar, you would pray with us 
for the abolition of such a monstrous anomaly 
as a fabulously wealthy ruler at the head of a 
nation that is ground down to the lowest depths 
of poverty and degradation. While incredible 
sums are exacted for the support of a prodigal 
court, each year sees a huge holocaust of the 
victims of starvation and oppression ! Our 


294 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

rulers revel in costly frivolities, while famine 
depopulates our country by tens of thousands! 
No other European state can show such a per- 
fect system of barbaric misgovernment and cor- 
rupt officialism as Russia. If any of the czar’s 
subjects show symptoms of originality or striv- 
ings after a better state of things, they are 
•promptly consigned either to the state prison or 
to banishment, and all national reform has to be 
made the subject of secret plottings by a hand- 
ful of men and women into whom patriotism or 
special provocation have instilled a greater 
amount of bravery than is possessed by their 
downtrodden and broken-spirited compatriots. 
The scoundrels whom despotism has put in office 
abuse their privileges to a brutal extent that 
would be tolerated nowhere else in Europe, and. 
must come to an end even here some day. Our 
newspaper press is a dead letter, for it is so 
supervised and gagged that nothing even ap- 
proaching a hint of discontent at the existing 
state of things is allowed to appear. A strict 
supervision is also exercised upon all our litera- 
ture, and even that which is imported from 
other countries is examined so jealously that any 
article or paragraph which can be construed into 
disapproval of Russian politics is promptly de- 
tected and blocked out. Police spies intrude in 
our i nnermost sanctums, and true domestic pri- 
vacy is practically unknown among us. Nor is 
this all. Physical oppression has been the heri- 
tage of us Russians forages, and the slightest 
excuse is good enough to justify the confiscation 
of our property and the deprivation of our lib- 


ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 


295 


erty. Liberty ! why, even liberty of conscience 
is not allowed us, and we are asked to believe 
that God has gifted our cursed tyrants with the 
knowledge of the only true way in which to 
worship him. Whether it be Stundist or Jew, 
it is all the same. The Orthodox priests, who 
insult Christ by calling themselves Christians, 
are ever ready to instigate an ignorant mob into 
deeds of violence which are a disgrace to hu- 
manity. Dare to differ from them in creed, and 
you find yourself singled out for additional out- 
rage. Your house will be wrecked, your home 
destroyed; your work taken from you, and all 
manner of vile insult heaped upon you. If you 
have wives and daughters, God might help 
them, but you can’t, and the priest won’t raise 
voice or finger to save them from the atrocities 
of the mob, which must be allowed to reward, 
itself somehow for its readiness to support the 
Orthodox Church.” 

“But surely the government would not refuse 
to punish those guilty of such shameful deeds?” 

“My dear child, the government and the 
Church will never fight each other, and the only 
reward which a complaint against the latter 
would bring forth would be the ruin of the man 
who ventured to make the complaint.” 

“But the czar. He is so powerful that a word 
from him would put an end to many of these 
evils. Surely if he knew — ” 

“The czar! He must know. He has been 
appealed to too often to be able to plead igno- 
rance. But if he, who is nominally at the head 
of so huge a nation as ours, and who receives 


296 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

imperial emoluments for doing his duty to that 
nation, will not take the trouble to make himself 
acquainted with the needs of the subjects whom 
he is paid to govern and protect, then it is high 
time that he be made to give place to some one 
who will be honest enough to do the work for 
which he is paid. We want peace and prosper- 
ity at home, while our rulers neglect us in order 
to annex other provinces and enlarge an empire 
that is already too unwieldy.” 

“Yet if this emperor is removed by violence, 
he will be succeeded by his son, who will prob- 
ably govern just as he is doing, so that his mur- 
der would only prove a fruitless crime.” 

“ Not so. If his violent death does not frighten 
his successor into more humane methods of gov- 
ernment, he will be removed in his turn. And 
so it will go on, until the rights of an oppressed 
people win the recognition that is demanded. 
You feel horrified at the idea of one man being 
turned over to avenging justice. How can you 
put his life in the scale against the lives and 
souls of the thousands who are the daily victims 
of governmental oppression and official cruelty? 
‘Vox Populi, vox Dei’ is our watchword, and 
God and the People shall not always lift up their 
voice in vain I” 

Oh, how noble my husband looked as he thus 
eloquently vindicated the right of the people to 
insist upon justice! And how strange it was 
that I, who had come to Russia fully resolved 
upon converting my husband to my own peace- 
able ways of thinking, should end by sharing his 
enthusiasm and by believing as he did. Yet so 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


297 


it was, and in defiance of possible subsequent 
conscience pricks, I began to look upon my hus- 
band’s contemplated act as that of a brave, self- 
sacrificing hero, rather than as the assassination 
against which my soul had revolted. Since that 
eventful night a reaction has set in, and I often 
thank God that, after all, no bloodshed stains 
my husband’s hands. 

“You will feel your isolation very much, I 
am afraid,” said Sergius, after we had, by tacit 
consent, tabooed further conversation anent the 
czar. 

“If I can see you often, I will try to be as 
patient as possible. But I cannot help being 
anxious for your safety while you are away from 
me.” 

“My dear girl you need not worry at all on 
my account. You have seen for yourself how 
carefully I am guarded.” 

“Yes, that is true. But I also know that 
your position must be a precarious one, or you 
would not be under the necessity of maintaining 
the disguise in which I saw you. You are, too, 
quite aware that you may be discovered and 
arrested at any moment.” 

“How do you come to that conclusion?” 

“Without much difficulty. Your manner, 
after leaving the hotel where I first saw you, 
showed that you feared to be tracked. Even the 
fact that your associates had mounted guard 
over you, and saved you from the government 
spy who was following you, is proof of the great 
danger you are in. How thankful I shall be 
when we are safe in England again!” 


298 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

4 4 So shall I, my darling. Meanwhile, we 
must make the best of the situation, which will 
perhaps not be quite so dreary for you as you 
imagine. You are to exchange this comfortless 
place for a room in another part of the building, 
where you will have every indulgence but that 
of perfect freedom until it is deemed safe to per- 
unit you to go abroad again. Ah! there is the 
signal. Your fresh quarters are ready. Come, 
Dora, but remember that you must not speak by 
the way.” 

A few seconds later the door opened, and Ser- 
gius led me past two figures holding lighted 
candles, and in the wake of another, who pushed 
aside a heavy curtain, beyond which was a nar- 
row, tortuous staircase, up which we climbed 
until my weary limbs found it almost impossi- 
ble to go further. Fortunately, we had nearly 
reached the top, and Sergius half carried me into 
a room which was the picture of warmth and 
comfort. 

A bright fire burned in the stove, and its en- 
livening rays made me suddenly conscious of 
the fact that I was shivering with cold. I sank 
quite exhausted upon a comfortable lounge, and 
it was like a transition to Paradise to find myself 
housed again in a haven of warmth and comfort, 
with the grateful odors of daintily prepared food 
assailing me. Yet I could neither eat nor drink 
of that which was set before me, and, so fatigued 
was I by my experiences, that I yielded to the 
languor which overpowered me, and was just 
conscious of being kissed affectionately by my 
husband, and covered over with multitudinous 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 299 

wraps, when I sank into a sound and refreshing 
slumber, from which I did not awake for several 
hours. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

“ Long Live the People ! ” 

I was rested and refreshed by my long sleep, 
and was glad to find that the events of the night 
had had no ill effect upon my health. The room 
in which I found myself opened into a smaller 
one, fitted up as a bedroom, and in this place, 
greatly to my astonishment, I saw all the lug- 
gage I had taken with me to the hotel, which, 
for many reasons, had better be nameless. How 
Sergius had managed things so cleverly I could 
not tell. But I was delighted to be able to re- 
move my disfiguring disguise, and make the 
most of my natural appearance. 

How that I was no longer a solitary damsel, 
whose movements might attract undesirable 
notice, I ceased to feel the need of appearing of 
such mature age, and I actually felt glad at the 
sight of my own homely presentment, after I 
had attired myself in a frock which I knew Ser- 
gius would like. While I was still busy touch- 
ing up my toilet, an elderly woman, of serious 
but pleasing appearance, entered the room, and 
asked if I would take my breakfast, or rather 
lunch. 

On first seeing me, she looked rather surprised, 


300 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

as if she had still expected to be confronted by a 
becurled and bespectacled old lady. I was able 
to understand her, and to reply to her, but was 
relieved to find, that she relapsed into German. 
As I knew that language much better than Rus- 
sian, it was possible to get on very well with my 
visitor, who told me that her name was Marie 
Ivanovitch, that she was the nominal lessee of 
this house, and that she had seen me on the pre- 
vious evening. 

“Then there were women, as well as men, in 
the assembly?” I exclaimed. 

“Certainly,” was the reply. “We women are 
as much alive to the griefs of our country as the 
men are, and the sexes are nearly equally bal- 
anced in our Society. Our usefulness is some- 
times of a different nature to theirs, but, upon 
the whole, we have as much work to our hands 
as the men have.” 

“And your work just now is to prevent me 
from leaving this house?” 

“Even so. But I trust that you will not find 
your detention very irksome, since it is only the 
consequence of necessary precautions for the 
safety of your husband and others. And 'I can- 
not impress upon you sufficiently the danger of 
attempting to elude the vigilance of those whose 
judgment ordered your stay here.” 

“Iam not likely to do anything that will run 
counter to the wishes of the Society, provided 
Count Volkhoffsky approves of them.” 

“What! Taking my name in vain?” cried 
another voice at this juncture, and Sergius put 
in an appearance. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 301 

“I was just telling Madame Ivanovitch that I 
would obey any orders of the Society that are in- 
dorsed by yourself,” I explained, while I smiled 
a glad welcome upon the face I loved. 

“And the particular command in question?” 

“That I do not attempt to leave these 
quarters.” 

“I hope vou will not. You are safer here 
than elsewhere. And this is the only place in 
which we could see much of each other.” 

“Say no more, my dearest. Wild horses shall 
not drag me away without your approval.” 

“There, what do you say to that, Sister Ivan- 
ovitch?” asked Sergius. “You see, my wife 
has pledged her word to me to be obedient. In 
fact, you need be under no apprehension of in- 
discretion on her part. We both give you our 
word of honor.” 

“And yours is too well known to be doubted, 
Brother Volkhoffsky.” 

“Sergius,” I said, as the worthy woman went 
to see after our lunch, “I feel thoroughly ashamed 
of myself for causing you so much trouble and 
anxiety. I shall — ” 

“Hot another word, my darling. It does me 
good to see you looking something like your own 
bright self again. I ought never to have left 
you behind, for I might have known that you 
would have preferred to share danger with me, 
rather than live a life of suspense and inactivity 
at home.” 

“My life promises to be inactive enough even 
here now.” 


302 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


“But at least you know where I am and what 
I am doing, and that is something.” 

“To me it is everything. Life away from 
you would be such a blank that I do not care to 
picture anything so dreary.” 

Does the reader wonder at our ability to take 
things so quietly, even with an awful tragedy 
ever looming before us? I sometimes feel sur- 
prise thereat myself, until I remember that, in 
spite of our experiences, we were both still gifted 
with the elastic spirits of youth, and that the 
mere joy of being reunited was enough to make 
us temporarily forgetful of painful subjects. 

Of course we had many confidences to ex- 
change, and Sergius removed my mystification 
concerning several things. It seems that the 
man with whom I had seen him walking on the 
previous evening was Ivan Vassoffskoy, the hus- 
band of the handsome young woman I had seen 
at Hyde Park Corner, and the individual who 
would have had to officiate as my husband’s sub- 
stitute in the event of his failure to respond to 
the injunction to repair to Moscow at once. 
Ivan Vassoffskoy had even more reason to dread 
recognition by government spies than had Ser- 
gius, for it was in Moscow itself that he had 
been denounced, and, but for the injunction of 
the Society, would ere now have sought safety 
in flight. His wife was already in England, 
having been deputed to carry out some plans for 
the Fraternity, of which she also was a member. 

“Ivan has wonderful powers of contortion, 
which have saved him from discovery more than 
once,” said Sergius, when speaking of his col- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 303 

league. “It would take his dearest friend all 
his time to recognize his naturally handsome 
face in the twisted and distorted visage which 
he presents to the public gaze. I have only heard 
of three people who could equal him in this di- 
rection. These were an English actor, a Japa- 
nese contortionist, and an English murderer. 
All three used their peculiar talent to good pur- 
pose, and were able to mystify whom they liked. 
The murderer even went so far as to masquerade 
in your Scotland Yard, although he knew that 
detectives were on the lookout for him. If 
Ivan’s powers of contortion serve him as well as 
they served the English malefactor he will have 
cause to be thankful for them.” 

“I thought he looked very singular,” I said. 
“But I would never have dreamed that he could 
by any possibility be regarded as a handsome 
man. But tell me, where were you going when 
I saw you together?” 

“We were going to visit and take pecuniary 
help to the wife of a man who has fallen a vic- 
tim to official rancor. He had the misfortune 
to have a pretty daughter, who was beloved by 
a youth in every way worthy of her. Now, al- 
though both Olga and her father and mother 
favored this young suitor, he had several rivals 
for her hand. Olga is a very nice girl, but I 
fancy that the good pecuniary position of the 
family had something to do with the love of at 
least one of those who proposed for her hand. 
Be this as it may, on finding himself rejected, 
he swore to be revenged both upon his rival 
and upon the girl who had had the temerity 


304 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

to award a man of his standing the insult of a 
refusal. 

His threats were heard with dread, for he was 
in a position of some importance, in which he 
had facilities for dealing underhand blows at 
those who were unfortunate enough to offend 
him. A large proportion of the denunciations, 
which result in death, imprisonment or banish- 
ment, are the outcome of personal malice ; and 
when once a man or woman is in. the position 
of an accused prisoner, there is small hope of 
delivery, especially if there is property to con- 
fiscate.” 

“And did this bad man fulfill his threats?” 

“Indeed he did. You shall judge what differ- 
ence .his enmity made to Olga and her parents 
when I tell you that her father and brother have 
been sent to Siberia as political exiles. The 
mother and daughter are reduced to poverty, and 
have found it impossible to support the younger 
children without help from friendly sympathiz- 
ers, who have to exercise the greatest precau- 
tions in visiting them, lest they, too, fall into 
the power of iniquitous officialism.” 

“And Olga’s lover — what of him? Can he 
not help them in their emergency?” 

“Poor Paul! I fear there is little doubt that 
he languishes in that living grave — the fortress 
on the Neva.” 

“How horrible! It makes me shudder to 
think of it. Oh, Sergius, for Heaven’s sake 
take care of yourself ! What shall I do if evil 
befalls you, and how can you escape it in this 
dreadful country? I hardly dare hope that you 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 305 

will reach England alive. How thankful I 
would be if we could leave at once.” 

“My dear girl, there are many things worse 
than death. That I must risk. But you could 
not retain your respect for a man whose oath 
has been broken, and whose word of honor is 
worthless. I will be as careful as is consistent 
with my duty. More I cannot promise, even to 
you.” 

Was it true that I would rather welcome the 
death of my hero than that which he conceived 
to be dishonor? I think not. But I had not 
the temerity to argue the question with him, 
and, rather than distress him again, I tried to 
put the ghastly picture of his so-called duty from 
my mind. 

“Tell me, if you may,” I said, “what special 
information it was that produced such a sensa- 
tion at the meeting last night?” 

“There is no reason why I should not tell you. 
Some members of our St. Petersburg branch 
have been denounced and tracked by informers 
in the pay of Count Karenieff and his myrmi- 
dons. Six of them have been arrested, and it is 
not likely that they will ever recover their lib- 
erty again. One lady, who was arrested some 
weeks ago, and who was really innocent of con- 
spiracy, has been so monstrously treated that 
she has died in prison. The circumstance of 
her death would be regarded as an opportune re- 
lease from a life that could never again become 
tolerable to her, were not the predisposing details 
so horrible. She was grossly insulted by the 
governor of the jail in which she was immured, 


306 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


but refused to forget that she was an honorable 
wife and mother. Nothing daunted by her in- 
dignant rebuff, the scoundrel again insulted her. 
This time the unhappy lady slapped her tormen- 
tor’s face, and aroused in him the demon of re- 
venge. She was accused of attempting to take 
the governor’s life, and was ordered to be sub- 
jected to the frightful indignity of the knout. 
In spite of her alternate prayers for mercy and 
screams of resistance, she was dragged to the 
place of punishment, forcibly stripped, and mer- 
cilessly beaten. 

“The physical pain was something terrible to 
endure, but one survives even worse things than 
that. It was the moral degradation that ate into 
her soul, and induced her to end her unhappy 
life. How she obtained it no one knows. But 
it is certain that she had poison in her posses- 
sion, and that she used it to good, purpose.” 

“How can such iniquities be permitted! You 
make even me feel a longing to take part in the 
downfall of a government that can sanction such 
atrocities! To think that a noble woman’s end 
should be so sad!” 

“Her end? That has not come. She lives in 
our souls, and cries aloud from the grave for 
vengeance! Her death has revived the ardor of 
both the enthusiasts and the lukewarm adher- 
ents of the cause of the people, and will do free- 
dom more service than her life has done.” 

We had much more conversation in the same 
strain, for I fully sympathized with my hus- 
band’s accounts of the cruelties inflicted upon 
his compatriots. But all subjects come to an 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 307 

end some time, and our talk varied itself by ex- 
cursions to Greenby and to Courtney Grange, 
not to speak of all we hoped to do when we were 
once more at liberty to return to England and 
take possession of the handsome house intended 
for our reception. 

“And I have already written to the Michael- 
ows,” said Sergius. “Of course, neither their 
name nor ours appeared in the letter. But they 
will receive it indirectly, and they will under- 
stand that we are together. This will allay 
their anxiety about you, and all the particulars 
of our adventures can be related when we se9 
them.” 

“I wonder if such an event will really come 
to pass?” 

“To be sure it will. I can’t have you always 
imagining the worst. You must look at the 
bright side of things.” 

“Do you know what I would do if I had the 
power?” 

“Something wonderful, no doubt.” 

“I would give you a drug, if such were ob- 
tainable, that would make you oblivious of every- 
thing but my presence and my wishes. Then I 
would take you far away from Russia, and 
would keep you there until there was no longer 
any danger of your being recalled.” 

“Ah! Dora, I’m afraid I shall never make a 
patriot of you. — But, whatever can be the mat- 
ter! Do you hear the commotion?” 

“Sergius! for Heaven’s sake, fly! Some one 
has betrayed you ! Those are government men 


308 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

who are rushing upstairs! Oh, what shall we 
do? How can you escape?” 

But my husband appeared much more aston- 
ished than frightened, and hardly seemed to 
notice what I was saying, for all his attention 
was apparently concentrated upon the hurrying 
footsteps without. 

- In another moment our room door was flung 
open without ceremony, and half a dozen people 
entered, among them being Madame Ivanovitch. 

“The country is saved! Hurrah! Death to 
the tyrant!” 

These and other exclamations became mixed 
in an inextricable jumble, so excited were all the 
speakers. Sergius saw that some great news 
had arrived, and became as excited as the rest. 

“Silence, some of you,” he cried, “until I 
know what has happened! You, Vassoffskoy, 
what is it?” 

“We have been anticipated. The czar will 
never come to Moscow now! Our St. Peters- 
burg contingent has achieved the great deed. 
The tyrant has been assassinated! Long live 
the people!” 


CHAPTER XV. 

It was all quite true. The czar had been as- 
sassinated. Though he was not killed outright 
by the bomb which was thrown under his car- 
riage, it was known that he was mortally in- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 309 

jured, and could not live long. The messenger 
who brought the news to Sergius had started 
from St. Petersburg to Moscow as soon as the 
deed was done, being previously armed with a 
railway ticket and a passport, and was already 
on his way to the frontier, whither it was ad- 
visable for all other suspects to proceed at once, 
if they would escape the tremendous hue and 
cry which would doubtless be raised without 
delay. 

In spite of the fact that I was the associate of 
conspirators, the news which elated them horri- 
fied me, and I was more than ever convinced 
that my rightful avocation lay among scenes of 
peace and domesticity. It was, therefore, all 
the more strange that the whole of my grown-up 
life so far should have been one of danger, tur- 
moil and excitement. 

Yet, as" all things have their limit of promi- 
nence in the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of life, 
even so would that fever of existence, which is 
variously termed “patriotism” and “treason,” 
cease to influence my daily being ere long. 
Such, at all events, was my hope, and I no 
longer doubted that Sergius would at once use 
his utmost endeavors to escape to England. 

But, for a time, it was difficult to obtrude in- 
dividual interests into the jumble of excited 
comment in which the ever-increasing number 
of fresh arrivals discussed the tragedy which 
had taken place at St. Petersburg, and its prob- 
able effects upon the members of the Society. 

“I suppose it will be no longer safe to meet 
here after to-day,” said a man, whom I heard 


810 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

addressed as I van Vassolf skoy, but whom I would 
not have recognized as the man whom I had seen 
with Sergius on that never-to-be-forgotten night 
of adventure. 

“I do not think it was safe to meet here to- 
day,” said another, who had just arrived. 
“Just as I entered the passage leading round to 
our secret entrance I fancied that a man brushed 
past me, and I feel rather alarmed.” 

“One of ours,” remarked Sergius. 

“I think not,” was the reply, which seemed 
to imbue all the company with a sense of inse- 
curity. “I challenged him in our usual way, 
but received no answer, as must have been the 
case if he had been one of us.” 

“Then whj^ did you come in if you fancied 
yourself followed?” 

“Because I concluded that the ‘house’ was al- 
ready suspected. I did retrace my steps for a 
few yards, but did not succeed in drawing the 
man away from the vicinity of the passage. This 
being the case, I thought it better to come in, 
after all, in order to warn you. It is quite pos- 
sible that the passage is guarded already, and 
that everybody emerging from it will be ar- 
rested.” 

“You did well, brother,” was the verdict of a 
tall, imposing man who had hitherto said little. 
“I had already begun to doubt the wisdom of 
meeting here much oftener, but was anxious to 
await the great event before altering our plans. 
As you all know, that event has taken place, 
and, by the terms of our oath, we are no longer 
a Society, although the consummation aimed at 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 311 

has been not our work, but the work of our 
brave St. Petersburg contingent. I proclaim us 
morally and patriotically disbanded, and ab- 
solved from all further duty or allegiance to the 
rules of our Brotherhood. If, in the future, it 
becomes necessary to give the government an- 
other severe lesson, you all know how to com- 
municate with me, if I am still alive and in 
freedom, and you all know that my sole aim in 
life is to avenge the wrongs of the people. Be- 
fore the setting of another sun some of us will 
be on our way to other lands, to seek that safety 
and freedom of speech which is denied us here. 
Some of us may have fallen into the hands of 
the tyrants, and have no longer a hope left. 
Others, confident that nobody suspects their 
connection with us, will continue to live in and 
about Moscow in comparative security, pursu- 
ing a life of honest toil, and always ready to 
afford an asylum to a patriot. But, whatever 
be the fate in store for us, we have nothing to 
reproabh ourselves with, unless it be that our 
fight for God and our right has not been drastic 
enough.’’ 

All the details of this conversation were fully 
explained to me by Sergius some days later, 
when it was no longer dangerous to speak even 
in whispers, as was the .case While we were fly- 
ing toward the frontier. But although I had 
not understood, all that was said, I had gathered 
enough to know that our situation was already 
one of extreme peril, and I own that I felt ter- 
ribly alarmed. I was also angry with myself 
for my husband’s sake, for I was sure that my 


312 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

presence could not fail to hamper his escape from 
Moscow. But I was not a little surprised to see 
how stoically all these dangerous conspirators 
received the news that their arrival had been 
watched, and that their exit was probably cut 
off by an outraged government at whose hands 
they would find little mercy. 

- This seeming mystery was, however, soon ex- 
plained. There were, on the upper landing, and 
partly within the four rooms whose doors opened 
on to this landing, over twenty people present, 
none of whom appeared in the cloaks and dom- 
inos which had imparted such an awful solem- 
nity to their meeting when I was taken captive 
by them. This, Sergius told me afterward, was 
because they knew that the catastrophe at St. 
Petersburg had virtually disbanded them. 

“Take off your shoes, Dora,” whispered Ser- 
gius. “And don’t be alarmed, darling. Our 
danger is not nearly so imminent as you seem 
to fear. We have long expected this crisis, and 
have not allowed ourselves to be trapped like 
rats in a hole.” 

While Sergius was speaking, he rapidly un- 
laced his boots and took them off. Greatly to 
my amazement I saw that all the other people 
present were engaged upon the same task, and 
I followed the general example, feeling sure that 
it would eventually prove to be justified by 
reason. 

As soon as their noise-producing foot covering 
was removed, all present began to throng into 
the bedroom I had occupied for so short a time. 
Some one touched a secret spring in the wain- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 313 

sooting, which noiselessly yielded to a slight 
pull given to it by Sergius, and revealed a cav- 
ernous opening into which, with whispered in- 
junctions against making much noise, first one 
and then another of the conspirators disappeared 
with either boots or shoes in hand. One man 
fetched a short ladder into the room, besides a 
boot and a shoe, which had evidently been pre- 
viously in readiness for some special purpose. 

Sergius held back until all the others had 
passed, through the secret door. Then he raised 
the bedroom window, which was one that 
opened on to the roof. His next proceeding was 
to throw the two shoes some distance along the 
flat roofs of the adjoining buildings. Then, 
leaving the window open, and the ladder by 
which he had. reached it still standing, he took 
my hand and. drew me into the space in which 
our companions were making cautious and labori- 
ous progress. Carefully closing the door behind 
us, he stooped for a moment, and I heard a sharp 
click, as of breaking metal. 

‘‘There,” he said, in alow tone. “It would, 
take pursuers some time to follow us, for I~have 
broken the spring, and that door will never 
yield again to gentle persuasion. Are your 
shoes all right?” 

“Yes, I have them in my hand.” 

“And your money and jewelry is already 
stowed in our pockets. Everything else you 
must sacrifice. You are unfortunate with your 
clothes.” 

“Never mind, so long as I have you left. But 
why did you throw those shoes out of the win- 


314 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

dow? And why did you leave the window 
open?” 

“To lead probable pursuers off the scent, and 
induce them to believe that we have escaped 
through the window, dropping our shoes in our 
hurry. A couple of houses along the flat roof 
there is an easy means of descent to the ground, 
by way of out- house tops, and thence into an un- 
frequented back street. It will seem the most 
natural way in the world to escape, and while 
the enemy is following up the false scent we 
shall all be making good progress in another 
direction. ” 

“But suppose it is a false alarm, after all?” 

“ Listen 1” 

I did listen, and no longer hesitated about 
groping my way into the darkness beyond. For 
noises, loud and threatening, penetrated to my 
shrinking ears, and told me that the house had 
already been forcibly entered. Of course the 
doors had been locked, behind us, and I could 
hear that these were being beaten down with 
heavy weapons. 

“Now, silence, for your life!” whispered Ser- 
gius. “Trust me to lead you to safety.” 

Not another word was exchanged between us 
for several minutes, during which, having 
crawled on to a sort of shelf, and covered the 
opening by means of a spring sliding panel, we 
found it necessary to crawl for some distance on 
all fours, in a stifling atmosphere which threat- 
ened to choke us. But at last this ordeal was 
also over, and we emerged into another cham- 
ber, similarly arranged to the one by which we 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 315 

had entered the species of tunnel which we had 
just traversed. 

I was by this time almost exhausted with ter- 
ror and haste, and was thankful indeed to be 
told that the worst danger was now over. But 
I exerted myself womanfully to hide the full ex- 
tent of my distress from Sergius, and have since 
felt rather ashamed at times when he has in- 
sisted upon praising my courage and fortitude. 

“You may put your shoes on again now,” he 
said, “and we shall no doubt find some one in the 
next room ready to give us a good brushing.”, 

It was as he said. But it took a good wash, 
as well as a good brush, to make us at all pre- 
sentable, and every requisite facility for furbish- 
ing up one’s toilet was to be found here. 

“How strange it seems,” I said, “to have 
come into such handy quarters. I understand 
the comforts of the other end. But these two 
little rooms seem to be only used for dressing, 
and don’t communicate with a bedroom at all.” 

“That is easily explained. We are now actu- 
ally in a theater, and these are the manager’s 
dressing-rooms. He is one of us, and the whole 
plan of escape is of his devising. That passage 
along which we crawled is space taken from the 
front upper rooms of three houses that we have 
crossed. It was necessary to take off our shoes, 
in order not to make too much noise over other 
people’s heads; but even the chance of betrayal 
on this score is practically guarded against, since 
all these front rooms have been taken by various 
members of our Fraternity. They would know 
what a scrambling noise overhead meant, but 


316 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


there is a possibility of antagonistic strangers 
being sometimes present in some of the rooms, 
so we are always as careful as possible. There, 
now, if you have quite recovered your breath, 
we will follow the rest of our friends down- 
stairs. 

In a few minutes we found our way down 
staircases along corridors into what proved to be 
the manager’s private room, and here the man- 
ager himself was conversing with several of 
those who had so recently escaped a mortal 
danger. 

“Ah! here you are, Brother Volkhoffsky,” he 
said. “Do you think the alarm has been a false 
one, or that the flight was unnecessary?” 

“If my wife and I had been one minute later,” 
was the reply, “all would have been lost. I had 
only just broken the secret spring, when I heard 
loud commands to surrender, while the door was 
being violently assailed.” 

“Ugh!” shuddered one or two. “It’s as well 
we’re out of it. But what had we better do 
next?” 

“I do not think that it would be advisable for 
any more of you to leave the theater now,” said 
the manager. “The police will be watching the 
whole neighborhood very carefully just now. 
You very likely all need refreshment badly, or 
will before you have a chance of obtaining any 
elsewhere. Four of you shall have some wine 
and such substantial fare as I have already pro- 
vided, while the rest walk boldly on to the stage. 
You must refresh yourselves in relays of four. 
I don’t want too many people in this room at 


ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 


31? 


once, as we are likely to be interrupted at any 
moment, and my advice is that you spend as 
short a time here as is consistent with a sub- 
stantial meal, which I again warn you will be 
needed. I will give you all part of some play to 
masquerade on the stage with, and if any pry- 
ing spies intrude, you will be supposed to be re- 
hearsing for to-night’s performance. As evening 
approaches, the theater will be lighted up, and 
before the real artists arrive you must so dis- 
pose yourselves as to be able to join the audience 
unobtrusively. You will then be comparatively 
safe, as no one will imagine that people who 
know the police to be on their track would spend 
the evening listening to a comic opera, thus ap- 
parently wasting valuable time. After the play 
is over, you can emerge with the crowd, and go 
your several directions in comparative safety. 
After that it will be each one for himself, and 
the God of nations for us all. And now, my 
friends, I have my daily duties to perform, and 
must attend to them at once, if I would avoid 
the curse of suspicion. So good-by, and may 
our unhappy country be no more under the neces- 
sity of fighting against those whose duty it is to 
help instead of to oppress!” 

This wish was fervently echoed by the rest of 
those present. There was a solemn ceremony of 
handshaking, and then the Society which had 
exacted such a horrible duty from my husband 
was disbanded forever, although many of its 
members found it advisable to follow the man- 
ager’s advice and abide in the theater until after 
the evening performance. Sergius and I were 


318 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


of the number; and, greatly to our relief, the 
tickets and passports with which Sergius was 
already provided were accepted at the railway 
stations without suspicion. 

Our journey to the frontier, although desper- 
ately fatiguing, proved uneventful, and when, 
having traveled by the Brest-Litovsk route, we 
found ourselves in Berlin, we felt able to ex- 
press to each other without fear our thankfulness 
at our escape. In Berlin we stayed for a couple 
of days, to take much needed rest, and to replen- 
ish our shabby and scanty wardrobe, since we 
did not care to return to England with nothing 
but the clothes we stood up in. 

There was no need for Sergius to sell any of 
our jewelry to provide ready money. He was 
well supplied with cash, and had this not been 
so he could have drawn upon a Berlin banker 
whom he knew. 

A couple of days later we presented ourselves, 
somewhat travel-worn, but otherwise in good 
health, at the house of Prince Michaelow, in 
Kensington, and I shall never forget the de- 
lighted astonishment with which he and Hina 
welcomed us “home” again. 

“Thank God!” said the former. “We never 
expected to see either of you alive again.” 

“You see, I fetched, him home,” I said to 
Hina, and I hardly know whether smiles or tears 
most prevailed as I received my friend’s enrap- 
tured caresses. 

“I can’t think how you have managed so 
beautifully,” said Hina; “unless, indeed, you 
only went part of the way. ’ ’ 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


319 


“We went all the way, and Dora has gone 
through all sorts of terrible adventures with no 
end of pluck,” asserted Sergius. 

“It’s just wonderful! After the news of that 
horrible assassination reached England, I felt 
sure you were both doomed,” said Nina, with 
a shudder, accompanied by another hug. “But 
how did you escape so easily?” 

“Perhaps we had better defer explicit particu- 
lars for a little while,” interposed Prince Mi- 
chaelow. “I am thinking that one never knows 
what may happen, and that it will be as well not 
to betray the fact of your having been in Russia 
again to any one. I suppose you were in St. 
Petersburg?” 

This was said so significantly that I knew 
what awful thing he was hinting at, and at once 
exclaimed: “No, thank Heaven! Sergius has 
been no further than Moscow. That was done 
without him.” 

“I am so thankful!” chimed in Nina. “Of 
course, I feel for the people. But it is an im- 
mense relief to me to know that none of my 
friends have killed the poor, misguided man.” 

“You see,” said the prince, “we shall never 
be able to make true patriots of our wives. 
They are too English for that. But how will 
this affect your future?” 

“I am just as much absolved from further 
duty as if mine had been the hand which threw 
the bomb. Our Society is disbanded, and will 
never be reorganized on the same lines. While 
still a member of it, I was resolved to fulfill the 
terms of my oath to the letter. But that sort of 


320 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


work does not suit me, and though I long for 
the regeneration of my country, I am now con- 
vinced that violence on the part of secret socie- 
ties can never cure the evils we deplore.” 

“Then you are not likely to join another secret 
society?” 

“Never! My political career is over. I can- 
not sympathize with the government. I may 
not work openly in the interests of the people. 
And I will not lend myself again to secret plot- 
ting. This much I have already told Dora. But 
she does not know yet that I have resolved 
never to return to Russia. Henceforth my life 
is devoted to her happiness and comfort.” 

This was indeed glorious news, which helped 
me to throw off the last talon of the incubus of 
dread, and speedily recover the happiest spirits 
imaginable. We decided to adopt the prince’s 
advice, and to say nothing to any one about 
having been elsewhere than on our originally 
projected wedding- tour. We had returned 
within the time expected, and I for one would 
not have put it in Belle’s power to betray the 
fact that Sergius was in Russia when the czar 
was assassinated. 

So we duly took possession of our own beauti- 
ful house; and then, as I really longed to see 
Lady Elizabeth and Jerry, we went down to the 
Grange, to pay a visit which my father had 
strongly urged us to pay. 

And. how different this journey to Moorbye 
was to the last one! Then I was lonely, un- 
loved, miserable and homeless. Now I was the 
possessor of everything that goes to make life 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 321 

happy. And yet only a few months had elapsed 
between the two visits. Early summer had but 
given way to late autumn. Certainly, many 
events had been crowded into a short space of 
time. Nevertheless, it was nothing short of 
wonderful that such results should have sprung 
so rapidly from the ashes of what I had deemed 
an almost incurable grief. 

I could not complain of my reception, for all 
but Belle greeted me with warmth, and I was 
positively thankful that she held aloof from me. 
I was also glad that no one witnessed our meet- 
ing. She had kept her room, when we first ar- 
rived, on the plea of a headache, to which I in- 
wardly gave the name of envy. For, knowing 
the superiority of Sergius to the Earl of Great- 
lands, and thoroughly understanding Belle’s en- 
vious nature, I knew that my good fortune could 
but be a very bitter pill for her to swallow. We 
encountered each other in the corridor, when I 
was on my way to the dressing-room assigned 
me, and it was characteristic of the nature of us 
both that we merely bowed when we saw each 
other. There was no sisterly kiss. Not even a 
handshake. Apparently there was to be an 
armed truce between us, and Belle’s first words 
prepared me to understand that she hated me as 
much as ever. 

“So,” she said, drawing her superb figure up 
to its full height, and looking scornfully at me, 
“you have managed to secure a title, after all! 
Had you lived in the middle ages you would 
have been burned as a witch, for nobody would 
have believed that you used aught but magic 


322 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

arts to ensnare your victims. And you have not 
shown much decency, either, or you would not 
have married so soon after — ” 

Here Belle, callous and hardened as she was, 
paused for a moment, and I finished the sentence 
for her in a manner she little expected. 

“Since the death of your victim,” I said, now 
feeling as relentless as she was herself. “Take 
care how you goad me, or I may be tempted to 
betray your secrets. For I know everything, 
and one word from me could shatter your castle 
of cards. While I am at it I will tell you some- 
thing else. Not long ago you deliberately medi- 
tated my removal by the same means which 
made your fiance an earl. Take care how you 
attempt to repeat such experiments. I am not 
the only one in the secret. But it will be 
safely kept, if you behave yourself, for the 
sake of others, who would suffer by your down- 
fall. I hardly need hint that you would precipi- 
tate that downfall by any attack upon my life, 
since I am less likely to die unavenged than the 
poor old earl. And now I have only one stipu- 
lation to enforce. You must henceforth be civil 
and polite to me and mine. In return I will re- 
frain from ever alluding to this wicked business 
again. The possessors of your secret are as anx- 
ious to guard it as if they were alike guilty with 
you.” 

Had Belle been struck into stone she could 
not have been more rigid than she was. Her 
face petrified with horror, and her eyes betrayed 
the consciousness of guilt. She made no at- 
tempt to interrupt me. But the look of relief 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


323 


which overspread her face when I reassured her 
that her secret was safe showed me that she 
thoroughly understood the meaning of every 
word I said, and convinced me that I need fear 
no further insults from her in future. I had 
not meant thus openly to confront her with her 
own wickedness. But her insults stung me to 
it, and my words certainly had the effect I de- 
sired. 

When, shortly afterward, I joined the others 
in the dining-room, there was ample balm for 
my wounded feelings. My father, having got 
over the pique which he had first felt on discov- 
ering that I was capable of carving my own for- 
tunes, and that I was not inclined to eat humble 
pie, was becoming quite cordial with me, and 
had evidently come to the conclusion that there 
must be something in me, after all, since others 
seemed to appreciate me so highly. As for Ser- 
gius, it was impossible to resist him, and there 
was every evidence that Mr. Courtney was al- 
ready feeling very proud of his new son-in-law. 

Lady Elizabeth was looking much better, and 
plied me with a great many questions relative to 
my early Russian adventures'. “I have missed 
you very much,” she said. “But I have not felt 
so anxious about you as might have been the 
case had you been less energetic and self-reliant. 
Besides, you knew that I loved, you, and I ex- 
pected. you would apply to me at once, if you 
were in need of money. I also thought that, as 
the friction was connected with Belle, you would 
return to us as soon as she was married. But I 
never dreamed that you would be the possessor 


324 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

of a wealthy husband and a title. Certainly, in 
your case, it has been proved that it is better to 
be born lucky than rich. I wonder what Belle 
thinks of it. She has never said anything to 
me. She knows I would not listen to*a word 
against you. But I hope she does not mean to 
be rude, or that her headache is not a mere pre- 
text to avoid you.” 

“You need have no fear,” I replied confi- 
dently. “I met Belle in the corridor, and re- 
ceived her congratulations. I think she means 
to let bygones be bygones as much as possible 
now. I daresay she felt that she had sufficient 
cause to be ill-natured before. And, 3^ou know, 
she must have been awfully disappointed when 
she found she was not to live at the castle.” 

“You said some strange words that morn- 
ing,” said Lady Elizabeth, sinking her voice to 
a whisper. “The thought of what they implied 
has almost killed me. The whole affair was so 
dreadful that I did .not know what to think. Do 
you still — ” 

“Mother,” I interrupted hastily’ “for Heav- 
en’s sake, pay no more heed to the ravings of a 
grief stricken girl. It was unfortunate for us 
all fhat your brother should have gained his title 
under such tragic circumstances. But pray do 
not think that anything but nature interfered 
with my wedding. It served me right. I was 
selfish and headstrong, and ought to have re- 
membered how cruelly Belle was disappointed. 
It was a shame to say wicked things of her 
besides.” 

“Oh, Dorrie! how thankful you make me. I 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 325 

have of late begun to think it impossible that 
either Cyril or Belle would stoop to criminality. 
It was too awful to believe. Now that you are 
also convinced, I feel thoroughly happy. And 
how nice you are looking, too! You have such 
pretty hair, and such a fine complexion. Your 
figure, too, since you have become less thin, is 
as good as Belle’s own. Your father remarked 
a little while ago that it was wonderful what an 
amount of good looks you were developing.” 

“I believe I am too happy and well-cared for 
ever to reco ver my former perfection of ugliness. ” 

“Now, Dorrie,” chimed in another voice, “it’s 
really too bad of you. You don’t seem to be 
able to spare me a minute. I don’t believe you 
are half so jolly as you used to be.” 

“Why, Jerry!” I said, kissing him affection- 
ately. “Didn’t I talk with you nearly all the 
way from the station? And didn’t I discover 
what a little fraud you are, for you couldn’ t an- 
swer my most simple French questions? And 
haven’t you taken possession of Sergius ever 
since?” 

“Yes, to be sure. I forgot that. But, oh 
my! isn’t he a brick? He’s given me a sover- 
eign, and he’s going to buy me the jolliest pony 
he can get, so that I can have plenty of riding in 
the holidays.” 

Just at this juncture Mr. and Mrs. Garth, 
who, it seems, had been invited to dine with us, 
arrived on the scene, and there was a consider- 
able amount of congratulating and handshaking. 
Then Belle came down, looking as quietly ele- 
gant and beautiful as ever, though perhaps a 


326 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


shade paler. She was very gracious when intro- 
duced to Sergius, and impressed every one very 
favorably by her brilliant conversation and 
ready wit. 

Both my father and Lady Elizabeth looked 
very happy and contented, and the evening was 
spent sociably and harmoniously. There was 
only one cankerous secret hidden beneath the 
smiling surface of family unity. But that was 
to be buried forever, I devoutly hoped. 

“What a pity Greatlands isn’t here,” said my 
father, some time after we had all adjourned to 
the drawing-room. “I’m sorry business kept 
him in town this week. You see, Volkhoffsky, 
he is doing the thing in style, and is very busy 
making all necessary preparations for next 
week’s grand event. Yes, one week more, and 
then Belle, too, will have passed the portals of 
matrimony.” 

Yes, one week more, and the final scene in this 
life-drama will have been played. One turn more 
of Fortune’s wheel, and we will ring the curtain 
down upon these reminiscences of an ugly girl’s 
life. 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


327 


CHAPTER XVI. 


Life and thought have gone away.” 

Xever had such a brilliant company been as- 
sembled within the wails of Moorbye Church. 
It was Belle’s wedding-day, and. the sun shone 
kindly upon the face of nature. Only a few 
family friends had been invited down, but the 
little church was filled to overflowing by the 
gentlefolks of the neighborhood, who did not 
think it infra dig. to undergo a lot of crowding 
and elbowing for the privilege of witnessing an 
earl’s wedding. 

Belle looked superb in her pearl-embroidered 
satin gown as she walked up the aisle with my 
father, and her bearing must have struck the 
onlookers as unusually calm and dignified. I 
fancied that I could detect a sign of anxiety in 
the hurried glance she cast around in search of 
Cyril, and that her face paled on discovering 
that he had not yet arrived. Possibly she 
thought of that other bridal morning, when the 
bridegroom did not put in an appearance. As 
yet, however, there was no need for uneasiness. 
The train by which the Earl of Greatlands was 
to coine from town was only just due, and it 
might possibly be a little late. 


328 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 

“I feel very anxious/’ said Lady Elizabeth to 
me, in a voice low enough only to be heard by 
myself. “Cyril ought to have contrived to be 
here first. He has behaved very strangely alto- 
gether of late, and I cannot help thinkig that 
something must be wrong with him. I hope he 
is not ill.” 

Alas! I knew what was wrong with him, and 
by this time my fears exceeded Lady Elizabeth’s 
own. Yf hen I say that I feared, I speak advis- 
edly. For it had seemed to me that an interrup- 
tion to this marriage was a thing to be dreaded, 
for everybody’s sake. True, real happiness was 
not to be expected for either Belle or her hus- 
band. But it was more fitting that these two, 
who had sinned together, should spend the rest 
of their conscience-haunted days together, than 
that either of them should be left at liberty to 
cast a shadow upon the life of any one else. 
Perhaps it was very presumptuous of me to con- 
stitute myself judge in such a case as this; for 
to encourage criminals in the achievement of 
that for which they have schemed and planned 
hardly seems a justifiable way of making the 
punishment fit the crime. Certainly the de- 
mands of justice would appear to point to a very 
different ending to our family troubles. But 
what woman in my place would not have tried 
to pit silence and oblivion against naked justice? 

It was a relief to us all when the Earl of 
Greatlands, accompanied by Mr. Alwyn Gar- 
dener, his best man, hurriedly entered the church 
and walked toward the altar. But Mr. Gar- 
dener appeared flushed and troubled, and the 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 329 

bridegroom seemed to me to be looking like one 
demented. For at one moment he bit his lip 
and clinched his hand with all the air of one 
who is doing a thing that is distasteful to him. 
The next he was smiling at Belle, and gazing at 
her with the exultant admiration of a proud and 
happy bridegroom. 

Presently Mr. Garth and his two chosen as- 
sistants began the marriage service, and the 
interest of the onlookers was quickened in an 
endeavor to hear the responses. Even yet I felt 
apprehensive of interruption. But, so far, my 
fears were unfounded, for the ceremony was con- 
cluded, and soon all was smiles and congratula- 
tion. The bride was kissed by relatives and 
bridemaids, and I hoped that, among all the 
fuss and excitement, the fact that I neither 
kissed my sister nor shook hands with my 
brother-in-law would pass unnoticed. 

There was to be a reception after the wedding, 
and then the newly-married pair were to go to 
Scotland for their honeymoon. We were quite 
a merry party at the Grange, and even I, who 
was so much behind the scenes, felt as if I al- 
most dared hope that the family troubles were 
now over. 

Jerry was in high glee, for everybody liked 
him, and the tips he got were enough to have 
turned any ordinarily lucky schoolboy green 
with envy. His holidays were almost over, and 
no doubt some of the school-chums of whom he 
spoke to me would soon show him how to get 
rid of his pocket-money. 

The Earl of Greatlands excused himself some- 


330 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


what earlier than had been expected, on the plea 
of feeling the need of half an hour’s quiet, as he 
was considerably out of sorts. “It will be time 
enough for you to get into your traveling dress 
in three-quarters of an hour, dear,” he said to 
Belle, whom he kissed again with all the ardor 
of a lover. Then he went up to his room, while 
Belle supported her honors a while ionger in a 
manner that won admiring encomiums from cer- 
tain individuals of the toadying order, who 
never lose an opportunity of flattering their 
superiors in station. When at last the bride 
went upstairs, she had little time to spare for 
dressing, but declined to take her two bride- 
smaids with her to facilitate the process. 

A minute later Marvel, who had accompanied 
his master to Moorbye, rushed into the room in 
which the rest of us were toying with time, and, 
throwing his hands up with a despairing ges- 
ture, screamed rather than shouted his dreadful 
tidings — 

“My master is dead!” 

That was what he had to tell us, and a mo- 
ment later all was confusion and excitement, 
which was augmented by the sound of despair- 
ing shrieks from above. 

In common with others, my first impulse was 
to rush upstairs to Belle’s room. I arrived first, 
and found her standing in the middle of the 
floor, alternately screaming and laughing, both 
screams and laughter being such as can but pro- 
ceed from the tortured bosom of insanity. Be- 
side her, on the floor, lay an open letter. I 
instinctively picked it up and hid it in my 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 331 

pocket before any one else saw it. I knew, 
without being told, that whatever awful tragedy 
had taken place in the next room was explained 
in that letter, and that it was the reading of it 
which had driven my sister mad. 

There were plenty of affectionate hands ready 
to help the stricken bride, and plenty of loving 
hearts that would fain have lightened her woe. 
But the blow had been too awful in its sudden- 
ness, and had struck when she was least prepared 
for it, just when she was at the zenith of her 
triumph and satisfaction. It had extinguished 
forever the light of reason from that beautiful 
face, and had transformed the erstwhile smiling 
bride into a hopeless maniac. 

Strangely enough, she seems to have forgotten 
the present, and all memory of aught connected 
with the family of Greatlands has been wiped 
off her darkened mind. She will never betray 
the part she bore in that other tragedy, and the 
world speaks very pityingly of the beautiful girl 
whose mental and social life ended on the very 
day which had witnessed the climax of her am- 
bition. 

The new Earl of Greatlands, being tender and 
pitiful, would have established his father’s bride 
of an hour in the dower-house, surrounded by 
such comforts as she is capable of enjoying. 
But to this plan neither my father nor Lady 
Elizabeth were willing to consent, and she still 
lives at Courtney Grange, one of the saddest 
wrecks of humanity it is possible to meet with. 
Interest in her surroundings she takes none, but 
will sit and babble by the hour of the time when 


332 ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


she was a little one, and had no greater trouble 
than to please an indulgent governess. 

My father has aged very much of late, and al- 
ways bears about him the impress of one who 
has been cruelly stricken by fate. He had almost 
worshiped his eldest daughter, in whom he saw 
nothing but physical, mental and moral perfec- 
tion. To gaze -upon her as she is, and to con- 
trast her present condition with what might 
have been, is a daily torture to him, which robs 
his life of much of its former animation and 
spirit. Seeing how he takes the changed order 
of things to heart, I often feel thankful that he 
is quite unsuspicious of the fact that, but for 
herself, Belle might now have been happy in 
the love of husband and children, even as 
I am. 

Lady Elizabeth, too, was greatly grieved for 
a time. But as her sympathies are widely scat- 
tered, and her interest in human nature is keen, 
she finds sufficient employment for mind and 
body to keep both in a healthy state of activity. 
If there is one thing that she is more sorry about 
than another, it is the fact that she could ever 
have harbored unworthy suspicions against two 
people whom she now firmly believes to be en- 
titled to be numbered among the innocents. 
Thank God that she is spared the knowledge 
which I possess ! It would kill her. 

Jerry is now at Cambridge, and bids fair to 
reward all the hopes centered upon him. 

As for myself, there is a perpetual problem 
facing me, and that is — What have I done to de- 
serve all the love and happiness which are show- 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


333 


ered upon me? Yes, there is one other — How 
shall I repay Sergius for the transformation he 
has wrought in my life? I am constantly try- 
ing to do it, but never manage it quite to my 
own satisfaction, though I believe my Russian 
friends, all of whom now live within a short 
distance of our house, entertain very exaggerated 
views concerning my capabilities of making a 
good wife. 

There is one other subject upon which the 
future reader of these memoirs may possibly de- 
sire a little enlightenment. He shall have it. 

Cyril, earl of Greatlands, who is said to have 
accidentally poisoned himself by swallowing a 
large dose of chloral in mistake for a milder 
drug, sleeps by the side of his [ancestors in the 
Greatlands mausoleum, and only Dennis Mar- 
vel, who is now the young earl’s valet, and my- 
self ever dream that despair and remorse drove 
an apparently happy man to sever the life-chords 
which had become a torture to him. 

So soon as I had an opportunity to do so un- 
observed, I read the letter which had been the 
last thing upon which Belle had gazed with the 
light of reason. 

“My darling wife,’’ it ran, “I thought to 
have overcome the horror which has been rest- 
ing upon me ever since I became an accursed 
parricide. My God! how could I do it! And 
how could you urge me to it! You, whom it 
would not have been difficult to worship as the 
outward, embodiment of all that is pure and 
holy ! I have often asked myself if I were mad. 


334 


ADVENTURES OF AN UGLY GIRL. 


For I could not otherwise understand how it 
was possible for me to continue loving the temp- 
tress whose ambition has wrought my father’s 
doom and mine. For I am doomed and accursed ! 
My days are filled with loathing of myself, and 
my nights are one long dream of horror. For 
me there is no salvation. I see my father’s 
frowning face, and hear his curses even amid 
the gay talk of the happy folk around us, and it 
is more than I can bear. Therefore I have put 
an end to it. When you pick this up from your 
dressing-table, the man who murdered his own 
father to gratify your ambition and his own 
greed will be numbered among the dead. But 
for you, who could coolly plan a murder, and 
yet not be haunted by remorse, life still holds 
many possibilities. You are now the Countess 
of Greatiands. I have enabled you to gratify 
your ambition. In return, you can make ex- 
piation for your own guilt by devoting your gifts 
to the interests and benefit of others. This I 
pray you to do, repentant sinner that I am! 
This I implore you to do, madly-loving husband 
that I am ! This I command you to do, wretched 
— but my strength fails me. I must bid you an 
eternal farewell. God bless you, my darling, 
and may His mercy be given to us both. 

“Cyril.” 

I read this letter through, but though it moved 
me terribly, it told me nothing I did not know 
already. How would it be with others, though? 
Would it not enlighten them more than was de- 
sirable about secrets that were better kept? I 


ADVENTURES OP AN UGLY GIRL. 335 

thought so, and I carefully burned the letter, 
anxiously watching it shrivel beneath the action 
of the flames, and guarding against the possi- 
bility of the smallest fragment escaping to betray 
the dark mysteries of the past. 

Does the reader blame me? 


THE END. 


After Bathing 

the first time with Pearline, you 
feel as if you never had been 
clean before, possibly you haven’t. 
Only baths like the Turkish or the 
Russian can make you as clean 
as Pearline does. There’s the 
same feeling of lightness and 
luxury after it, too. Bathing 
with Pearline costs almost 
nothing. It’s like everything else — you would 
long for it, if it were expensive, but you’re apt 
to overlook it when it’s cheap. Directions on 
every package. 

Peddlers and some unscrupulous gro- 
cers will tell you “ this is as good as” 
or “the same as Pearline.” IT’S 
FALSE — Pearline is never peddled ; if your grocer sends you an imi- 
tation. be honest — send it back. 334 JAMES PYLE, New York. 






f. 
















. 

i 
















































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* .. 












































BURNETT 

- - - AT THE - - - 

CHICAGO EXPOSITION 


WHAT THE RESTAURATEURS AND CATERERS WHO ARE TO FEED 
THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE FAIR GROUNDS THINK OF 

BURNETT’S EXTRACTS : 


Chicago, April 2d, 1893. 
Messrs. Joseph Burnett & Co. 

Gentlemen : After careful tests and inves- 
tigation of the merits of your flavoring ex- 
tracts, we have decided to give you the 
entire order for our use, in our working 
department as well as in all our creams and 
ices, used in all of our restaurants in the 
buildings of the World’s Columbian Ex- 
position at Jackson Park. 

Very truly yours, 
WELLINGTON CATERING CO. 

By Albert S. Gage, President. 


Chicago, April 26th, 1893. 
Messrs. Joseph Burnett & Co., 

Boston and Chicago. 

Gentlemen : After careful investigation we 
have decided that Burnett’s Flavoring Ex- 
tracts are the best. We shall use them ex- 
clusively in the cakes, ice creams and 
pastries served in Banquet Hall and at New 
England Clam Bake in the World’s Fair 
Grounds. 

N. E. WOOD, Manager, 

New England Clam Bake Building. 

F. K. MCDONALD, Manager, 

Banquet Hall. 


. Woman’s Building, ? 

World’s Columbian Exposition. ) 
Chicago, April 21st, 1893. 
Messrs. Joseph Burnett & Co., 

Boston and Chicago. 

Gentlemen : We take pleasure in stating 
that Burnett’s Flavoring Extracts will 
be used exclusively in the Garden Cafe, 
Woman’s Building, World’s Columbian Ex- 
position, during the period of the World’s 
Fair. 

RILEY & LAWFORD. 


Columbia Casino Co. 
Mt ssrs. Joseph Burnett & Co., 

Boston and Chicago. 

Gentlemen : We take pleasure in stating 
that Burnett’s Flavoring Extracts will be 
used exclusively in the cuisine of the 
Columbia Casino Restaurant, at the 
World’s Fair Grounds, as it is our aim to 
use nothing but the best. Respectfully 

H. A. WINTER, Manager. 

Transportation Building, ) 
W orld's Columbian Exposition. J 

CHICAGO, Aprii 24, 1893. 
Messrs. Joseph Burnett & Co. 

Gents: After careful tests and compari- 
sons we have decided to use “Burnett’s 
Extracts’ exclusively in our ice creams, 
ices and pastry. Very respectfully, 

„ , SCHaRPS &£ahn, 

Caterers for the “ Golden Gate Cafe,” 

•• TROCADERO,” Tr^sportatiou Building. 
Cor. 16th Street and Michigan Avenue. 


"The Great White Horse” Inn Co .. ) 

World’s Columbian > 
Exposition Grounds. ) 
Chicago, III., U. S. a., April 26, 1893. 
Messrs. Joseph Burnett & Co., 

Boston and Chicago. 

Gentlemen: It being our aim to use noth- 
ing but the best, we have decided to use 
Burnett’s Flavoring Extracts exclusively, in 
the ice cream, cakes and pastries served in 
“The Great White Horse” Inn, in the 
grounds of the World’s Columbian Expo- 
sition. Very truly j ours, 

T. B. SEELEY, Manager, 
“ The Great White Horse ” Inn Co. 


The Restaurants that have contracted to use Burnett’s Extracts, exclusively, 

are as follows : 


WELLINGTON CATERING CO„ 

“ GREAT WHITE HORSE” INN, 
THE GARDEN CAFE, 

woman’s building. 


COLUMBIA CASINO CO.. 

THE GOLDEN GATE CAFE, 

NEW ENGLAND CLAM BAKE CO., 
BANQUET HALL. 


JOSEPH BURNETT & CO., BOSTON, MASS 


Pears’ 

Soap 

Wholesome soap is 
one that attacks the 
dirt, but not the liv- 
ing skin. It is Pears’. 






































































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• ' 









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% 




• - 



/ 



























































































LIBRARY 


congress 



















